The Adventure Found Them
by scifigeekgirl
Summary: A Glimpse of life for TenII and Rose set in Pete's World.  First fanfic ever published  very nervous! so apologies in advance for errors.  Title just updated due to story sort of evolving.
1. Balovines, Tea and Torchwood

_a/n: oops republishing this - forgot to include disclaimer: Nope don't own anything in the Whoverse, not The Doctor, Rose or any of it._

_Three months after Bad Wolf Bay..._

The warm afternoon light filtered through he vibrant purple leaves of the gambello tree, gently caressing the young couple lying beneath. Giggling quietly, and enjoying their banana daiquiris, they were clueless that their peaceful afternoon would end with white fluffy balls of terror falling from the sky.

"Seriously, that's how you intend on starting the story!" Rose exclaimed as she peered over the Doctor's shoulder as he tapped madly away on her laptop while lounging on the living room sofa.

"Well its better than once upon a time" the Doctor responded sniffing indignantly.

"We weren't drinking banana daiquiris and really, white fluffy balls of terror; that's not how I remember it"

"Rooooose, I have to engage my readers and what better way than to slightly embellish with banana daiquiris. Everyone loves banana daiquiris."

"Because Bananas are good" Rose responded with the patent Tyler grin.

"Exactly! Besides, there's nothing wrong with artistic license and its being published as fiction so if I add a few extra bits here and there... What's wrong with white fluffy balls of terror!"

"Well, I don't recall them being very fluffy, more fuzzy balls with teeth grazing on whatever they could roll into their mouths. Sort of like tennis balls with attitude"

"Tennis balls! Rose, they were nothing like tennis balls! The Balovine have been known to destroy entire planetary ecosystems in a matter of weeks"

"That's funny seems like on Sestress IV they were contained in a couple of hours and the people there felt so bad for the ball-o-whatsits they created a preserve for them."

"Balovines Rose and that's because I was there and besides whose story is this anyway!"

Rose threw up her hands and strolled away from the living room. "Fine, its your story, tell it however you want. I'll just nip out for tea at Starbelles while the great author creates his masterpiece"

At the sound of Starbelles the Doctor quickly slapped the laptop shut "Starbelles oooo aren't they the ones with the tasty little pastries filled with boysenberry jam!"

"You wanna come with me? What about your story?" Rose asked as she grabbed her wallet off the kitchen table.

"Rose Tyler you can't force art. All great artists require inspiration and what better inspiration than tea and pastries with you." the Doctor said with that grin that just made Rose melt.

Rose smiled brightly and couldn't help but think how lucky she was to have the Doctor here with her. It may not have been what she planned or perfect but when did anything with the Doctor ever work as planned. Besides, tea at Starbelles will be neutral ground for them to talk about the future. Rose knew that the Doctor was not very happy with the flat and even more unhappy that she was still working for Torchwood.

At the counter at Starbelles, the Doctor couldn't help himself, he had to try a sample of everything.

"No too spicy. Ick too bitter. Blimey how much citrus is in that stuff!" Feeling sorry for the Brewista, Rose stepped in and ordered for him; but then of course, he eyed the pastries. The Doctor being curious wanted to try everything. Rose talked him into three different pastries. Finally, settling into a corner table with their drinks and assorted treats, Rose knew she couldn't put it off any longer. She twisted a piece of her hair in her fingers trying to think how to bring up the subject of Torchwood as she gazed down into her tea.

The Doctor knew something was on her mind as Rose normally had a one pastry rule. Here they sat with an assortment between them, it must be serious.

"Rose, do you want to talk about something or have a gaggle of Kulotak parasites colonized in your hair?"

Rose slowly examined the hair she had been twisting her brow furrowing with worry. "How would I know if they did" she asked with concern.

"Well I would think the stench would be your first sign. They excrete a hormone that smells a bit like soured milk" He then leaned over and took a whiff of her hair "Nope no Kulotaks there" he pronounced. "So now that we have established you are Kulotak-free, what's really on your mind"

Rose stared at him. Only the Doctor would ask her what she was thinking while discussing an alien infestation. Rose smiled, this is what she loved about him, his unique doctorness.

"Actually Doctor I was thinkin maybe we should talk about what we should do"

"Do? What do you mean, we're having tea and pastries."

"No, I mean the future, where should we live, what should we do with ourselves?"

The Doctor stared at her in confusion. They'd never worried about any of that before. Why would they now? Was Rose unhappy, he thought she had accepted this version of him and everything was moving along quite nicely. They had moved into her flat and really he had only made few minor modifications. It was her idea that he write the book about his adventures so he would, in her words "have something to do to keep you out of trouble". He hated the thought of getting a job and couldn't stand living off her Torchwod wages. He had even gone to Torchwood with her once and only knicked a few minor bits they would never miss. Oh he hoped she hadn't found out about the exploding tins of peas at the market. Really, it wasn't his fault. He was sure there were vicisous Oliki hiding amongst the tins planning an invasion of London.

"Is this about blender?" he asked with while characteristically tugging on his ear.

"No, I don't really mind the sonic blender. As long as it doesn't explode, set the flat on fire or send out a signal to some alien race causing an invasion"

"Oh no, no, no, it certainly won't explode or set anything on fire" He was a bit worried about the potential for a sonic signal but maybe he could distract her from that small point.

"Besides Rose, even Jackie admitted I made the best daiquiris all thanks to my brilliant sonic blender!"

Rose smiled not forgetting the fact that he very neatly avoided the whole signaling an alien race point but that could be discussed another time. She had more important issues to talk about and besides, she could hardly worry about an invasion, she had the Doctor after all.

"Doctor I know you aren't happy in the flat and every time I bring up Torchwood you get a pinched expression on your face"

The Doctor sighed. "Rose, I don't hate the flat, its just so… well its not dimensionally transcendental. I've spent the last few centuries of my life with virtually no walls or confined spaces, wellll excepting a few prison cells but then those were temporary; anyway, I've just been used to the freedom to go wherever ,whenever and now its just, well an adjustment to live in a space that's smaller on the inside. Not that I hate it after all it's your home and if its yours, it can't be bad."

Rose reached across the table and grasped his hand. "Doctor, that flat was just temporary until I found you and its never been home to me. We can live wherever you like. Home is wherever you are." She smiled at the look of wonder on his face.

"Rose Tyler, you are just amazing. No where in the multiverse is there anyone like you. Thank you."

Now Rose felt it was time "Doctor about Torchwood" Before she could go on, a hard look crossed his face.

"No" was all he said.

"What do you mean No, you haven't let me finish"

"I'm not working for Torchwood, finito, done, end of story"

"I'm not asking you to" Rose answered with an edge in her voice.

The Doctor calmed down a bit and asked her "Well what exactly are you saying"

"I know you don't like me at Torchwood and I know you hate that we make our living off of Torchwood. Doctor I have to make a living for us, but I don't want Torchwood to come between us"

The Doctor tensed up in that Time Lord kind of way.

"I've always taken care of you. I don't recall us ever having to work for any morally ambiguous governmental agency to survive and you're right I hate it. I hate that you leave to go to work for this agency that has a history of corruption. I hate that they require you to carry a weapon. At this point in time, even in Pete's World, humans are not ready for the technology that Torchwood has and is experimenting with. It's dangerous for you and this world and it's only a matter of time before something Torchwood does causes damage to you, London or this world. You're clever and brilliant and I would never hold you back, but Rose, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry but I will never like that you work for Torchwood. I can't tell you not to work there, that's your decision, but I don't have to like it. Rose you could do anything with your life, anything at all, you know that right?"

Rose took a deep breath "Doctor I have loved you more than anything or anyone and always will. Torchwood was my only chance to get back to you and my only connection to the life I had with you that I loved. You're right, Torchwood was dangerous, but Pete will never allow it to get that way again. I have done everything I can to help him keep Torchwood on a better path, one that will be responsible for not just the world today but for the future. I haven't really planned for any future other than one with you. I won't and can't choose Torchwood over you. I told you, I'm not ever gonna leave you and if that means me quitin Torchwood, so be it."

The Doctor for once was speechless. Rose looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I love you. We don't have to be in the flat, near Torchwood or even in London if you want. We may not be able to go whenever but we can go wherever."

The Doctor smiled and pulled Rose across the table spilling tea and smashing pastries and snogged her like back on that accursed beach. When they finally broke apart, both were smiling like loons.

"How fast can you tell Torchwood" he asked.

"I already emailed my resignation this morning" she replied with a cheeky smile.

"Why you…" she kissed him again before he could say anything.


	2. The Time Lord vs The Estate Agent

a/n: More glimpses into the life of TenII and Rose in Pete's world. I am in the US and although have been to London, have done little traveling in the British countryside so nothing in this fic references any particular place or person. Apologies if it seems too off but it is alt universe.

Disclaimer: Not a dime made from playing with any DW characters. Solely written for author's own distraction from annoying RL events

**The Time Lord vs. The Estate Agent **

"….and the natural light is just amazing! It definitely highlights the charm of this well loved historic home. So Dr. Smith, any thoughts?"

The Doctor was definitely annoyed. Why couldn't they just sonic their way in and walk around the house on their own instead of being followed around by Abby the avaricious estate agent? Honestly, she's probably not even human and he told Rose that but, Rose just patted him on the shoulder with that "yes Doctor look" and finished completing the home finders questionnaire. A questionnaire! He the only Time Lord in existence in this universe was filling out a questionnaire! Oh his inner alien was just screaming "Time Lord, thy name is Domestic."

He soon realized house hunting was more than just picking a place to sleep and keep your stuff. It was a test of endurance and a challenge to outwit the scheming estate agent who just wanted to shove them off in some domestic little abode and move on to the next victim well… house hunting human. Even the term "house hunting" evoked some primitive need to pursue the wild and untamed dwelling, capture, conquer and settle as your own. Such a basic human concept and yet it almost defines humans as a race. After all, this is what they end up doing, building communities as they spread through the universe. He would not back down from this challenge. No Time Lord would be bested by the human process of house hunting! He just had to break this down into the science of finding a home.

First there was the language. He did love words so decoding the estate agent speak was easy for one who had mastered over 5 billion languages. For instance, "It has real charm" or "quaint" meant it's small and he better be handy (no pun intended) as things are probably going to fall down around him shortly after moving in. Another example, "a real fixer upper." Forget being handy, he better have a team of contractors ready to swoop in as soon as they close on the purchase and they can kiss moving in goodbye for at least several months. He did enjoy the part of the process where they drove the estate agent mad with a list of requirements that no human could possibly ever fulfill. Perhaps the best part was snooping around potential homes ridiculing the rubbish style of their owners and maybe, if he was lucky, discovering an alien hiding amongst the humans in the countryside.

So here he is listening to Abby the scheming agent witter on about the features of the sixth house on their list of potential homes while Rose has wandered off. He really must have another chat with her about wandering off.

"Abby, have you seen Rose?" the Doctor finally asked in the hopes of stopping her unending prattle.

"Oh, Ms. Tyler was just here. She really should not be wandering around on her own. It's against company policy and you both agreed to our policy when you signed in this morning" she stated in a cloying congenial manner. Immaculately dressed, Abby Thorn was one of the best estate agents at Attlebys which catered to wealthy clients. She had never lost a sale and always found a home for her clients. Snagging the Tyler/Smith couple was a coup as she knew that Rose Tyler was the daughter of multimillionaire Pete Tyler and there was an extra bonus promised if she found a home for them that met their rather eccentric requirements.

All of a sudden they heard Rose call "Doctoooor!"

The Doctor sprinted up the staircase to the third floor, pulling out is new modified sonic screwdriver, while racing to Rose. Abby followed closely behind, amazingly enough, not even slowed down by the 4 inch stiletto heels.

"Yep, definitely an alien" the Doctor thought. No normal human woman could have dashed up three flight stairs in heels like those at that speed and not fallen, or at the very least, wobbled a bit.

The Doctor found Rose in a large bedroom at the end of the hall standing before a massive window. The window was filled with a stained glass image of a landscape that was stunning. Golds, Reds and Oranges dominated the scene and the light filtering through it cast a warm glow on the cream colored walls. Further enhancing the warm glow were gold gilt mirrors hung around the room which reflected the light throughout the space. The glow surrounded Rose in a way that made the Doctor think of another time he saw Rose glow with golden light. It was not a pleasant feeling for him. She smiled, spread her arms wide and spun around with joyful abandon.

"I love it" she exclaimed. "It feels right don't you think Doctor?"

The Doctor slowly approached Rose and scanned the room with his sonic screwdriver as Abby stared at him with subtly hid annoyance. She couldn't let this get out of hand, she had to gain control of the situation before the potential sale slipped through her well manicured fingers.

"Of course the stained glass windows are one of the best features of this delightful historic home. They are original to the house. As you know, the house was renovated 15 years ago but many of the features from the original 18th century structure remain intact. The home was built on the foundation of a 13th century home which was destroyed in a fire so the grounds are even older than this structure. I believe this home meets many of your requirements - a house with some history to it, large spacious rooms, abundant windows, rambling gardens, a greenhouse, and of course privacy. You can practically feel the walls whispering the secrets of this home's past to you"

The Doctor stopped, turned and looked at her. He walked over scanning her with the sonic screwdriver while asking her "really, you've been listening to time ooze from the walls and it only just now occurred to you to mention it?"

Rose grabbed the Doctors arm and dragged him away from Abby.

"Sorry Abby, he get's rude when he's excited" Rose apologized.

"Rude" the Doctor exclaimed. "I'm not being rude, I'm investigating this obnoxious estate agent who just told us she can hear the walls talking. You see Rose, I told you she's an alien."

Abby glared at the couple and finally said "yes, well perhaps we should continue our walk-through. Dr. Smith is obviously excited to see more." She turned and walked out of the room as if the Doctor had not done a thing out of the ordinary. After all, she was an Attlebys agent. She was nothing if not discrete and she would not let some nutter eccentric cost her a commission and bonus.

Rose crossed her arms and just looked at the Doctor.

"What!" he said as if nothing was wrong. Rose smiled and shook her head. "Abby was just usin a figure of speech. She can't really hear the walls sayin anything. Course you and me, being us, we took her literal. So did the sonic show anything?"

"Oh yes!" he said with glee. "This is definitely the place."

They both grinned and bounced up and down with excitement. Torchwood had many files on this house reporting hauntings and odd occurrences. As a result of the odd activity, no one had lived here in more than a decade. Rose and the Doctor had hoped they would find something like this during their appointment to view the house. Rose definitely had a feeling here that she couldn't quite pinpoint; she just felt warm and welcome and oddly enough at home. The house definitely produced an energy and if you listened long enough, maybe just maybe, you could hear something more.

Abby popped her head back in "shall we continue?"

"Yes, definitely." Rose answered.

Hand in hand Rose and the Doctor followed Abby as she took them through each room of the house. The Doctor subtly scanned each room as the tour progressed. Abby ended the walk-through in the gardens which were overgrown and lacked the neat and tidy well manicured nature of most English gardens.

"Well Dr. Smith, Ms. Tyler, isn't this just perfect for you! I must say, seeing the two of you here, I have no doubt this is your home. So, what do you think? Shall we draw up the papers?" Abby stated with eager anticipation.

"Well Abby, let's not get ahead of ourselves" said the Doctor. He certainly wasn't going to let the scheming alien agent win that easy. "We haven't seen the basement."

"The basement." Abby replied with a cold smile on her face. "The basement was not part of the renovation and the electricity doesn't even work down there so I'm afraid that it's just not possible to see the basement today. If you would like to put in an offer, I'm sure we can have an inspector out to review the property within the week."

"No, we want to see the basement now" the Doctor replied firmly, but with a smile.

"Well if you insist, you do so at your own risk and I must ask you to sign a waiver releasing Attlebys and the owner from all liability for any injury you may sustain during your inspection of the basement." Abbey was mentally cursing them at this point and decided to risk losing the sale in the hopes she could deter them from inspecting further.

"Not a problem" chirped Rose. "Let's sign whatever so we can pop into the dark and dangerous basement" she said with just a bit too much enthusiasm.

"Oh, don't be silly, I didn't mean to insist it was dank or dangerous. It's simply a legality. You understand of course that Attlebys prides itself in maintaining a standard and complies with all legal protocol. I'll see to it that the waiver is sent to your solicitor first thing in the morning."

"What, but we want to see it now" The Doctor insisted with a hint of a whine.

"Oh, but I don't carry waivers with me. This will have to be handled through proper legal channels." Abbey replied almost enjoying that she was making the eccentric Dr. Smith wait.

"Really." replied Rose. "Just a mo." Rose pulled out her mobile and phoned for back up. She almost hated to do it but this was too important to let go and besides, now she was annoyed with Abby and was almost seeing the Doctor's point. Maybe she is an alien. Pete answered right away. "Rose, is everything all right? I thought you were looking at the old Dutton Manor house today?"

"We are Pete but the agent says we can't go into the basement without some sort of waiver. Is there anything you can do?"

"Hang tight. I'll have this sorted momentarily." Rose smiled and rang off with Pete. She turned to Abbey with a smile and asked her to point out the stairs to the basement. Just then, Abbey's phone rang. Rose and the Doctor just stood there quite pleased as she answered "Yes sir. Of course sir." she turned toward Rose and the Doctor. "Well it appears all the legalities have been handled. The stairs are this way." She led them through the house, into the kitchen, through the pantry to a door that looked as if it had not been opened in a very long time.

"It's all right Abbey, we'll take it from here." said Rose with authority.

Abbey was none too pleased. "Fine, I'll just be in the study." she turned and left them to their exploration of the basement, her stilettos clicking away toward the study.

The Doctor turned to Rose "Definitely an alien. Did you get a whiff of her perfume? Disgusting! Only an alien would wear pear scented perfume." Rose tried to stifle her giggle.

The Doctor aimed the sonic screw driver at the large rusty, dirt encrusted hinges of the old dark wooden door and pulled gently. The door opened with a screeching grinding noise and the musty air from the basement wafted out the opening. Using his screwdriver as a torch, the Doctor peered down into the darkened staircase. He turned back to Rose with a grin of such delight on his face. Oh how he missed this! Rose returned the same look and grabbed his hand as they slowly descended down the old stone steps into the bowels of the house, each step into the darkened passage bringing them closer to adventure and the unknown.

As they climbed down the stairs they could hear the scurrying of rodents running through the walls and a damp chill settling over them.

"Definitely need to deal with the rodent problem" remarked the Doctor "Of course, I think that's the least of our worries."

"What you mean" replied Rose as she zipped up her jacket against the cool air.

"Oh there's definitely something alive down here and I don't mean rodents" replied the Doctor. "This house has an energy in it and I don't just mean floating around, it's in the stone and the walls. They almost vibrate from it. Can't you feel it?"

"Yeah" Rose replied. "I don't know, I can't explain it. I just know it's here. How long do you think its been this way?"

"Oh this has definitely been here for a long time and when I say a long time, I mean a very long time. Possibly millennia. It's not just in the house or the basement. This is in the foundation or beneath the foundation. Perhaps in caverns beneath the house."

Finally they reached the floor of the basement. The darkness of this place was oppressive and Rose stayed so close to the Doctor she was practically clinging to him. He shined the screwdriver along the wall until he found a lantern. Luckily, it still contained oil and he was able to light it and handed it to Rose. They looked around the room they were in which was nothing out of the ordinary. There were a few wooden benches and cupboards along with racks filled with wine bottles. The Doctor picked one up and blew off the dust.

"Ahhh French Bordeaux bottled in 1952. It's probably vinegar by now." He put the bottle down and proceeded toward the back of the room. The basement just appeared to be a wine cellar of sorts. Nothing much unique about it, just a dusty, cold stone cellar and it definitely needed some work. The only extraordinary thing about the sub space was the odd feeling.

As they looked around Rose turned to the Doctor. "Well are you all right now with us working as consultants to Torchwood? You have to admit, Jake did give us a great tip about this place."

The Doctor grudgingly admitted she had a point. "I was a scientific advisor to UNIT in the 70s while I was trapped on Earth. I suppose maybe this isn't much different. At least we can choose what we help them with and how it's done."

"Someday, your gonna have to tell me about your UNIT days." Rose replied pleased that they had reached a truce regarding Torchwood.

"Hmmm" the Doctor replied while running his hands along a wall. Suddenly, there was a rumbling noise and the sound of dirt falling and dust filled the air. Rose called out "Doctor what's happening!"

**To be continued**

a/n: Working on improving the grammar. It seems to get a bit lost in the revisions. Still hoping it get's better with each posting. Hope you can stick it out if you are following along.


	3. Darkness, Light and Revelations

a/n: Well this certainly is longer than I intended! I am a bit worried I may have bit off a bit much for a first fic but guess I just needed to dive in LOL. I really have no idea how long this will end up and there is still much more to come.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Doctor, Rose or any of their awesome friends. No profit here, just fun.

**Darkness, Light and Revelations**

Previously: …._Suddenly, there was a rumbling noise and the sound of dirt falling and dust filled the air. Rose called out "Doctor what's happening!"_

Rose was immediately enveloped by a cloud of dust coating her from head to toe. She coughed and gagged struggling to breath and find her way to the Doctor.

"Doc ugh uck. Doctor, ahhhk, Doctor can you hear me?" Rose rasped. She could barely see anything through the dust with only the soft light of the lantern to guide her as she practically felt her way over to the direction in which she last saw the Doctor. Finally as some of the dust settled, she saw the faint blue glow of the sonic ahead of her.

"Rose, Rose are you okay?" The Doctor shouted out.

"I'm here Doctor." Rose replied with relief. "What happened, are you all right?"

"Oh I'm fine. It was nothing really nothing. Can you find your way over here? I'm near the collapsed wall.

"Collapsed wall? You mean the wall fell in! Are you sure you're okay?"

"Wellll I may have helped the wall along a bit and when I say a bit I really mean I might have resonated it, but only a little." the Doctor replied a bit sheepishly. He had been scanning the wall and determined that there was an empty space behind it. He was sure whatever was emanating the energy originated somewhere behind the wall and beneath the house. He had just adjusted the sonic to setting 456A7 when everything fell to pieces, literally.

Eventually, Rose made her way over to the Doctor who was leaning amid the rubble and dirt against the part of the wall that was still standing. There was no part of him that was not covered in dirt and dust. Even his gorgeous brown hair was dulled and caked by the filth of the collapse. Rose reached over and touched his shoulder.

"Hey, you sure you're all right?" she asked softly.

The Doctor peered up at her and started laughing.

"What!" Rose asked indignantly looking down at herself to try and determine what was so funny. The Doctor finally got hold of himself .

"It's just, you look like those mud people of Beleevus 5, only dry and crumbly." he answered trying not to laugh.

"Oh really" Rose answered with attitude. "So you think that I look like a lump of mud that chased you around a planet for walking through their sacred mud flat without spittin in it." Rose gave him the Tyler glare of doom and waited.

"Welll maybe not, you're much cuter than a mud person and you smell much much nicer" he said trying to redeem himself.

Rose rolled her eyes. "All right enough of mud monsters, let's get to it. So what was so important that you had to knock down a wall and bury us in all this mess."

The Doctor bounced up and crawled over the debris to the gaping hole.

"There's something down there." He picked up a small rock, dropped it and listened to it bounce down into the black depths.

"Hmm doesn't sound like too bad of a drop off. We should be able to climb down easy."

Rose looked him nervously. "Shouldn't we get some rope and more lights"

"Nope. We can't. The cave collapsed one of the walls near the stairs so there's no going back that way."

Rose pulled out her mobile and she still had a signal so if they did get stuck, at least she could call for help. The Doctor looked at her and looked back at the wall, or at least, what was left of it.

"Sooo, you going to call for help or are you gonna trust me?"

"Of course I trust you Doctor." Rose answered.

"It's just, well it seems... when we were traveling, you never questioned or looked elsewhere for help because you thought I might be wrong. You trusted that no matter where we were or what we did, I would always take care of you. I thought you understood that I'm still me. I may only have one heart but that doesn't mean I can't protect you." The Doctor looked up at her, his insecurity exceedingly evident on his face.

"I do trust you. I wouldn't be down here investigatin if I didn't trust you. Yeah you are a bit different but then so am I. Torchwood taught me to always have options. I didn't have you here for a long time and I had to look out for myself. It's nothing against you, just a habit. Truth of the matter is, you are so much more now. I'm sorry if I made you feel any less." Rose walked over and took his hand. "We all right?" She asked with concern.

"Oh you know me…" he started to say but was interrupted by a haunting melody floating up from the gap in the wall.

"Did you hear that?" asked Rose. "It's familiar. I've heard it before."

The Doctor looked at her intensely. He had also heard this haunting music and was now positive, there is something down there not of the Earth. Definitely alien and even more worrisome, not of this universe.

Rose and the Doctor slowly climbed through the gap and made their way down further beneath the foundation of the house. Eventually, Rose's lantern gave out enveloping them in the darkness with only the Doctor's sonic to light their way. As they made their way down, deeper into what appeared to be a system of tunnels and caverns, it appeared there was some kind of light coming from somewhere beneath them.

The Doctor looked back at Rose. "It's too bright to be some form of natural bioluminescence. Could be from whatever is producing the music. You oka? We could take a break."

"No, we should keep moving. We have to get down there." Rose replied without emotion.

"Oh I think a break sounds like a brilliant idea. Let's just sit here and catch our breaths." The Doctor answered while trying to scan Rose without her realizing. Something was off. Rose had become quiet as they descended and seemed too focused on getting down to the mysterious energy source. It was almost like she was not entirely in control of herself.

Rose sat down for a moment continuing to gaze down toward the light. Moments later she got up. "I'm rested let's keep going."

The Doctor knew he didn't want to take one more step until he was sure Rose was all right.

"Rose, look at me." The Doctor said softly. Rose turned and looked at him but it was like she wasn't seeing him.

"Rose, I don't know if you can hear me, but something's wrong. Rose I need to see what's happening to you. I'm sorry, but I really need to take a look up here" The Doctor gently tapped her temple. Rose didn't respond other than to stare at him.

"No, we have to keep going" She said finally.

The Doctor stopped her from moving and tugged her down to her knees and put his fingers to her temples. He closed his eyes and focused on Rose. The first thing the Doctor noticed was light. Everywhere was light. Eventually a meadow appeared. It was a soft green meadow with vibrant purple flowers interspersed with daisies. In the distance he could see several Tardis sitting in the meadow, all blue and all resembling his Tardis. As he walked toward the group of Tardis, he saw Rose sitting in the grass amongst the Tardis wearing a white sun dress. She had a bouquet of yellow roses in a basket in her lap. He knelt down beside her.

"Rose, can you hear me?"

"Hello my Doctor."

"Are you my Rose or just pretending to be her?" he asked.

"I am your one true Rose. I am the Rose of the present and future. The Rose who can change everything but only if you help me."

"What is it that you are trying to change and how am I supposed to help you?" the Doctor asked with concern.

"You already know the answer. You already know of the imbalance, the eternal struggle. You've seen the darkness and despair as well as the joy and hope. Throughout it all, you were the epicenter, the ending and the beginning of the story. You think you see the ending but do you really? You've always said there's hope and that you liked hope."

"Oh you had to go and get all enigmatic didn't you." he worried.

"It's not about me or you ya know. There's so much more." She gazed lovingly at the Tardis.

"I don't suppose you want to tell me why there are so many versions of my Tardis here" he asked trying to make sense of all she said and all he was experiencing.

She smiled and looked up at him. "Why won't you admit what you already know to be true? You know what happened on Satellite 5 and yet you pretend otherwise. It was always coming to this."

"This, you mean me, here beneath this house; here in this universe or the metacrisis" Now the Doctor was worried. The last thing he wanted to deal with was Bad Wolf or any references to Bad Wolf.

"Silly Time Lord, always trying to make things so complicated. Your Rose always saw through to the heart of things. The heart is the key isn't it."

He stared at her as he could barely comprehend what she was implying. "Rose and the Tardis. No, I took it out of her, she's human!"

"Is anything ever as it appears?" she answered mysteriously.

He sat there staring at her thinking, remembering and theorizing.

"This is so much more beyond Rose, Earth and even me" he stated with a touch of fearful curiosity.

"Awww finally, the Time Lord is seeing the heart of the matter."

"Is Rose all right?" He asked, his voice laced with fear.

"Why do you fear? Rose promised you forever. You never believed that promise. Now you must believe it. You are not the same as you were and neither is Rose. Both have been touched by time. Both of have so much more to do but none of that will happen unless you choose to help me. You still have choice. I cannot choose for you."

"I can't choose until I know more. So, Rose is not entirely human anymore. Is she more like me as I am now? What does this have to do with the entity beneath the manor? What do you really want?"

"Out of millions of births on Earth and other such worlds, a handfull are born with the genetic capacity to be so much more. These humans may lead normal mortal lives and do nothing more than live and enhance the culture of their world; or, if the multiverse demands it, they may serve another purpose. A purpose far greater than their planet. It was no accident you met Rose. Rose was meant to meet you and join with your Tardis. Your Tardis knew the truth of it. Creatures of time are necessary for the continuity of the multiverse. They bring balance. As I said, you are the beginning and the ending. Everything is born, lives and dies. This is the natural cycle of the multiverse. When the multiverse is out of balance, chaos ensues and eventually all things come to their ultimate end. So many creatures of time have been lost; too many, and now the multiverse is in peril. Balance must be restored. You and Rose with the help of what lies beneath this house have the capability of restoring this balance, if you choose to do so"

The Doctor absorbed this information. He understood now. He questioned himself as to what he wanted to do with this information and what was the right thing to do. He had to talk to Rose, the real Rose.

"If what your implying is true, why Rose and me? Why not the Doctor in our original universe?"

"He lacks what you have." She replied.

He lacks what I have. What does that mean the Doctor wondered? "Uh sorry but what exactly do I have that he doesn't? I mean obviously he's full Time Lord, can regenerate and has the Tardis."

"You are part human and more importantly, part Donna Noble, with all the flaws and benefits that come with being human and not just any human. Donna Noble was also touched by time and plays an integral role in the continuity of the multiverse. The full Time Lord will never understand."

"You're talking about intuition and feelings aren't you? These things are contrary to what it means to be a Time Lord."

Suddenly, the meadow was fading away and the Doctor felt himself pushed back into reality. He stared into Rose's tear-filled eyes.

"Doctor." she gasped as he pulled her into an embrace.

"It's going to be all right." He promised her. He knew now that they had to find the entity below them and quickly. They had to resolve this.

"I remember." Rose said. She knew what was said and she felt what it felt. It was old and lonely and yet it had hope.

"We have to get moving." The Doctor said as he stood up pulling Rose with him. "Will you be all right if we keep going?"

"Yeah, let's go." She said softly.

They quickly climbed down toward the light making much better time than they did when the first left the basement.

Finally, the reached what appeared to be the bottom. They noticed the temperature had warmed but was not uncomfortable. They walked hand in hand down a smooth pathway until reaching an enormous cavern. In the middle of the cavern was a coral pillar just like the Tardis. They could see where tendrils of coral had grown up the walls of the cavern. The size if it was awe inspiring. They walked over and laid their hands against the coral. It hummed in delight to them. The Doctor with a look of pure ecstasy on his face hummed along with the Coral.

He turned to Rose to see that she was crying with joy. "Its so beautiful." she whispered.

"This old girl has been here a long time." The Doctor observed.

"How did she get here beneath the Earth?" Rose asked.

"There was an explosion. A Tardis fell through, space, time, the void and landed on ancient Earth here. It's amazing that she survived at all. She landed here, in the right place, at the right time and remained undisturbed for hundreds of thousands of years."

"What do you mean? I thought a Tardis couldn't live without her Time Lord?"

"Yes, normally. But this Tardis is a little different and she landed on a developing world and not just a developing world, a world reverberating from temporal instability so much so that a rift was formed right here. That's how she survived. She's been feeding off of rift energy. Probably the same energy that has been causing the weird happenings in the manor house above us. Come to think of it, some of the haunting stories are probably her doing, not intentionally mind you."

At first, Rose didn't know how to react and then, suddenly, she started to laugh. She laughed so hard tears were once again trailing down her face. The Doctor just looked at her. He didn't know if he should be relieved because she was once again smiling and herself or worried that she was hysterical.

Finally, Rose calmed down enough to look up at the Doctor.

"But don't you get it?" she said smiling. "We are buying a house haunted by a Tardis! This could only happen to us. See, I told you it felt like home."

The Doctor broke out into an insane grin, grabbed Rose and swung her around with joy.

**To be continued.**

a/n: Whew! Oh I hope all that sort of made some kind of sense. It's meant to be slightly enigmatic and a bit symbolic. Again, I'm not sure yet how long this fic will be. Thanks for reading and as always, I appreciate the reviews and hope to improve my writing as this story continues.


	4. Rose Learns She's Not a Mutant

a/n: Hope the last chapt was not too confusing. Hmm still not sure of the plural of Tardis… Tardi or Tardis? Thanks for reading and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who and can only sit in awe of the genius that is RTD. Neither do I own The Fly, just have fond memories of watching old 50's horror flicks with my brothers.

**Rose Learns She's Not a Mutant**

The Doctor was leaning against the coral pillar, his arms wrapped around as much of it as he could with his face pressed against it absorbing everything about the lovely creature. You could see his face filled with joy at just being in her presence. Rose was sitting beside him leaning against the coral listening to its song almost drifting off to sleep.

The Doctor eventually stood back. "I think she's gonna be all right and really is quite pleased that we're moving in upstairs. Something's had her a bit worried though." He said running his hand through his hair. The Doctor looked down at Rose. "Hey you awake?"

Rose just hummed in response. Finally opening her eyes she asked "Can you talk to her properly?"

"Well, its not like talking, more like feelings and images. She's really happy that we're here, but its more than that."

Rose was very quiet and pensive and finally responded. "You mean because we're different."

"Oh, so you remember that." The Doctor said softly.

"Yeah. I remember. I remember lots of things. Some beautiful, some not so beautiful. How different do you think I am?"

"Rose, stop. There's no reason to worry. We don't know that anything is wrong with you. She just suggested you were different. Different may not be a bad thing, as matter of fact, different can be brilliant!" The last thing the Doctor wanted was for Rose to feel alone and abnormal. She was his Rose and that's all that mattered and he would do anything to keep her safe and happy.

"Well maybe we shouldn't say anything to Mum about this. It'll be bad enough to explain our house is haunted by a living Tardis." Rose mused.

"I don't think we should tell Jackie anything Rose. The less people who know about this, the better. We need to protect her. She may be beneath our home, well the house that will become our home, but she is still vulnerable. She is a vast source of power and we have to protect her from being exploited by humans or anyone else who comes to this world."

"You sound worried. Is there something your not tellin me?"

The Doctor sighed. He supposed they might as well talk about all of it. He just didn't want to burden her with too much all at once.

"Rose, this living entity is what Time Lords used to build a Tardis. Remember I told you that a Tardis was grown? Well Time Lords grew these organic creatures of time who had the capabilities of channeling the vortex and manipulating it in such a way as to travel in space and time. The Time Lords harvested them and used them to build a Tardis."

"You mean the Time Lords enslaved them!" Rose said with great outrage.

"Well I suppose you could see it that way depending on your point of view. The relationship of a Tardis and her bonded Time Lord was a fairly intimate thing. Remember, the Tardis is a bit telepathic. My Tardis is a bit of a rebel and has a great deal of free will so I never had complete control over her and I know she enjoyed, well enjoys traveling with me. That being said, I know that later models were cruelly modified to prevent a Tardis from having any freedom. The Time Lords wanted more control. I guess if you look at what the Time Lords became at the onset of the Time War then yes, perhaps you could say they enslaved them."

Rose just looked at him aghast. "That's horrible! We mustn't ever let that happen again."

The Doctor smiled and slid down next to Rose. "Well that's why we have to protect her. Actually, that sort brings us to our next topic."

"Which is?" Rose questioned.

"The old girl here wants us to grow more Tardis. Normally Tardis were raised on Gallifrey but since Gallifrey is gone, we have to think creatively. She thinks we can do it here due to the rift and of course there is also my brilliance and one more thing."

"What's the other thing?" Rose asked.

"You" he said looking at her.

"Me, what do you mean me! What could I possibly do? I don't know anything. I barely helped you fly your Tardis."

"Oh Rose, my brilliant Rose, you simply must give yourself more credit. It's not always about a physical action. Sometimes it's about who you are."

Rose looked at him with a lost expression on her face "I really don't understand."

"Your different. You were born different and when you joined with my Tardis, you absorbed not just the vortex but a bit of my Tardis along with it and that bit was like a missing puzzle piece in your DNA. It popped right in - perfect fit."

"But shouldn't that of killed me. I mean I'm no genius or expert on genetics but seems to me if you start messing about with someone's DNA, something bad is gonna happen. Sort of like that movie The Fly. Oh, I'm not gonna turn into a mutant am I!" Rose was just a bit worried thinking of the many horror movies about mutants that Mickey had dragged her to when they were teens.

The Doctor did his best not to laugh as he could see Rose was seriously upset.

"Of course that's not gonna happen! Besides, even if it was a possibility, I'm here and not gong to let it. Anyway, it's a bit late for that now. So where were we? Oh Yes! Stubborn Rose foolishly rips open the heart of my magnificent ship and absorbs the time vortex, joining with the heart of my Tardis and triggering a bit of her amiable DNA to get friendly with Tardis DNA. I remove the time vortex but what's done is done. You don't die because the deadly energy has been removed but you bear the mark of it. The Tardis has seen the genetic anomaly in you and does her best to see that nothing bad happens to you by slowing down any harmful changes. Then you ended up here, away from the Tardis' protection and things started to progress a bit faster. Did you notice anything odd after you arrived, like maybe a strange illness?"

"Doctor I was in a really bad place after gettin here. I lost everything except my Mum and Mickey. Losing you was real painful so yeah I was definitely feelin ill. Everyone thought it was just me bein sad and getting used to a normal life back on Earth not to mention that some of the bacteria here's a little different. Mum got a bit sick as well. So you're tellin me that what I was feelin may had more to do with what happened aboard the Tardis?"

The Doctor shuddered at the thought of what could have happened to Rose. It all could have gone so wrong. He could just beat his head against a wall for not paying closer attention. She could have died and all because he wasn't more observant or perhaps it was because he just didn't want to know.

"Well its hard to say now but that is a theory. You probably wouldn't have notice much of any change. Maybe you have a greater understanding of physics and you might absorb information a bit better but otherwise, you appear quite normal. Well quite normal for being my brilliant Rose."

"But you said that I changed and I can do something to help grow a Tardis. I still don't get it."

"Yes well you remember me explaining artron radiation and how all time travelers absorb it as a sort of background radiation?

"Yeah, go on."

"Well you may have more of it than I would expect from a time traveler. A Time Lord like me has an excessive amount and as a Time Lord Metacrisis grown on board the Tardis, wellllll, I may have a bit more than that. Artron energy will be a key in growing a Tardis. So will Huon radiation which you also absorbed from the Tardis. Oh don't look at me like that, its fine and you are completely safe."

Rose continued to glare at him.

"But, it's more than that even. I think deep down in your subconscious mind, you know more than you think you do. When it comes down to it, its gonna be instinct."

"So you're saying I got a ton of radiation inside of me and when its time, I'll just know what to do and how to do it? What like a some kind of comic book super hero? Oh Mickey would have loved this." Rose said sarcastically.

"Super hero! No no no, nothing like that and it would be super heroine Rose - heroine being the feminine of hero."

Rose stared and asked "Are you lecturing me on comic book heroes?"

The Doctor ignored her and continued. "You are very important to the Tardis Rose, but you still have choice. It's up to you whether or not we do this. It has to be both of us…together."

Rose turned and looked up at the Tardis coral, and then turned to the Doctor. "Of course I'll do it." She paused and then said "Doctor I don't mean to scare you, but that's what the Bad Wolf said - I bring life."

The Doctor had shivers going up and down his spine at her words.

"I told you, I remember everything." Rose said.

They both sat there for a moment just taking it all in when the Doctor jumped up.

"Well no sense dilly dallying around here. We've got places to go, Tardis to grow and things to do! Oooo, I like that! Places to Go Tardis to Grow! Ha! Well, first things first, we need to secure the house and protect our new friend here." The Doctor gave the coral a friendly pat.

The Doctor reached for Rose's hand and pulled her up.

"So how we gonna get back upstairs?" Rose asked.

"Oh you're gonna love this!" The Doctor replied with enthusiasm.

He pulled some bits and bobs from his very dimensionally transcendental pockets and started assembling them with his sonic screwdriver and eventually incorporating bits of coral into the new device. Rose stood there watching him and strangely enough, thought she recognized some of what he was doing.

"Is this like a transportation device?" she asked.

The Doctor looked up at her and said "If by transportation device, you mean a Multispacial Transinducer with special sonic feature, then yes as it will sort of transport us from one spot to another although not through time, just space and how did you know that?"

Rose just shrugged. "Sort of just looked like it I guess."

"Okkkkaaayy. I think that we might be getting just a bit of your instincts filtering through. You all right with that?"

Again, Rose just shrugged her shoulders. "Ya know Doctor, as long as I'm with you, I think I'll be all right." Rose smiled and realized, yeah, she really did believe that, everything was okay, really really okay.

The Doctor quickly soniced the new Multispacial Transinducer which he quickly renamed the MST.

"Done and fully functional" the Doctor said with enthusiastic pride. "So let's test this evidence of my sheer brilliance out!"

Rose looked up at him a bit nervously. "Shouldn't we test it on something not us first?"

"Rose, I promise you it's completely safe… probably."

"All right Doctor but if we end up with switched body parts or stuck in Norway, it will be tea with my Mum for the next month!" Rose said with just a the tiniest bit of threat in her voice.

Rose and the Doctor, walked hand in hand over to the Tardis coral and placed their hands on the column. They felt the warmth and support of the coral and of each other. They slowly turned away and gazed at one another realizing that once again everything had changed and they were looking forward to when they could return to begin the Tardis nursery. Rose stepped into the Doctor's arms and embraced him tightly, burrowing into his jacket. The Doctor returned her embrace, activated the MST and yelled "Allonsy!"

The next thing Rose knew she was laying on a hard floor with the Doctor sprawled on top of her. Rose's head was throbbing and she had an unbelievable cramp in her left leg. The Doctor rolled off her groaning and squinting his eyes.

Rose looked over at the Doctor. "Yeah completely safe all right and still a rubbish landing!"

"Rubbish landing! Rose Tyler I'll have you know that was nothing short of amazing given the limited resources at our disposal other than my brilliance" The Doctor retorted.

All of sudden they both heard someone clearing her throat impatiently. Ahhh yes, Abby the possibly alien estate agent. They had almost forgotten about her.

"Well, do either of you have any idea the trouble you have caused?" Abby asked with annoyance.

The Doctor sat up and looked her up and down and said "Nope, but I'm sure you're gonna tells about it aren't you."

Rose sat up as well and said "I don't suppose you have a water on you?"

Abby Thorn was livid. "Now you see here, all you had to do was walk about and decide whether or not you wanted to purchase this house. That's it. But nooooo, you had to go mucking about in the basement. You had to raise inquiries into this place and drag Torchwood into it. You have caused me enough trouble and now you are going to make it up to me. I know something happened in that basement. You were trapped down there for over a day and now you have miraculously appeared here. So now Dr. Smith and Ms. Tyler, you are going to tell me exactly what you found and how you escaped."

Rose and the Doctor turned and looked at each other. Rose rolled her eyes and the Doctor turned back to Abby the questionable estate agent. "Or you'll do what exactly?" he asked.

Abby pulled a gold pen from her pocket and aimed it at table next to Rose. A white shaft of light beamed out from it and neatly sliced the legs from the table and it crashed to the ground. She smiled at the Doctor and said "I will start slicing off bits of Ms. Tyler until you tell me everything."

"Everything?" Said the Doctor "Well if I were to tell you everything, we could be here for a while. Ya See the thing is Abby, you don't know me which means you don't know what everything means to me. For instance, you may know that Rose is important to me, but you don't know what I would do to anyone who threatened her." The Doctor stood up and stared at her with what Rose called the Oncoming Stare.

Abby was not intimated or deterred in the slightest. "Just try me Dr. Smith. I don't care about Ms. Tyler or you for that matter. You are both insignificant. I know there is something non-terrestrial in this house. It's powerful and I want it and I don't care what I have to do to get it. I don't care if she dies, you die or I have to exterminate all of London or half the planet. Now, I think you better start telling me exactly what you found. If you don't start talking, I start cutting."

All the while Abby was going on and on and being threatening, the Doctor was inconspicuously sonicing the MST.

"All right Abby, you want to know what's in the basement then I'll tell you." The Doctor said softly.

"First, I need to know how technical to be with you. So tell me Abby, exactly what are your qualifications? How basic do I need to be?"

Abby bristled. "How dare you insult me you tiny, primitive, rancid human! You couldn't possibly comprehend how much more advanced I am from you and the rest of this stinking race. Just being here dealing with all of you and your primitive drabbling requires an enormous amount of discipline. If it weren't for what's in this house, I wouldn't set foot on this back water planet much less interact with such an inferior species. Stop stalling and start talking, Now!"

"Ohhhh Abby, you really don't understand. This could quite possibly be the biggest mistake you ever made." The Doctor activated the now modified MST and a tiny pinging noise sounded. The Doctor held up the MST and scratched his head. "It wasn't suppose to do that. That was a bit underwhelming wasn't it."

Abby aimed the laser pen at Rose but nothing happened. The Doctor tossed the MST to Rose and ran at Abby. The Doctor struggled with her trying to get the pen away from her. While he struggled, Rose got up and grabbed a grabbed a fireplace tool. When Rose saw her opportunity she whacked Abby over the head and she crumpled down to the floor. The Doctor stared at Rose stunned.

"Torchwood and their violent tendencies are rubbin off on you." The Doctor said as he pocketed the laser pen and gently took the fireplace poker out of her hands. The Doctor looked down at Abby and noticed a flickering. Abby was wearing a shimmer device which was malfunctioning. Soon the truth of who Abby really is would be apparent.

Unfortunately for the Doctor and Rose, Abby's unveiling was interrupted.

To be continued.

a/n: Yes, obviously there's still more questions to be answered. For those who may not know, The Fly Was a 1958 movie made from a short story written by George Langelaan and then remade in 1986. It's a bit of classic 1950s horror. Thanks again for taking time to read and review.


	5. It's a Crime to Taunt a Fluffy Fezzby

a/n: Wow, I'm up to chapt 5 on something that was only suppose to be 2 chapts! Still having too much fun to stop so, yep this has still a ways to go. I can't keep these two out of trouble.

Disclaimer: Nope don't own The Doctor or anyone in the Who Multiverse. Don't own the Pied Piper or the Brothers Grimm either.

**It's a Crime to Taunt a Fluffy Fezzby**

"Ow! That Hurt" Yelled the Doctor while gripping his head his ears still ringing from the high pitched whine that filled the house.

"Don't Move!" Said a commanding voice.

"Move, how can I move with my head throbbing like this. Who are you and what was that for?" The Doctor continued to complain. Eventually, he opened his tightly shut eyes and started looking around. Abby was still collapsed on the floor her shimmer now completely disabled. Rose was on her knees leaning over, hands gripping her head rocking back and forth.

"Rose! All you all right?" The Doctor asked frantically. He tried to kneel down with her but found he couldn't move. Whoever the intruder is, he used a Styppi which could paralyze parts of the body and the Doctor couldn't move.

"I'm okay." Rose moaned but she continued to grip her head and rock back and forth.

"Styppi are outlawed on Level 5 worlds and the Shadow Proclamation has restrictions on their use. Who are you?" the Doctor demanded.

A figure appeared before the Doctor. The creature had a humanoid shape but no distinguishable features other than being covered in an iridescent rainbow of colors. It was as if a blob of iridescence just decided to take the shape of a person. The creature waived its arm in front of the doctor, colors flaring as it did so and almost floating up and away from the appendage. Finally it spoke to the Doctor in a booming masculine tone.

"You and the female are not human. What is your purpose here?"

"I'm not answering anything until you identify your place of origin and species designation as provided by the Shadow Proclamation." replied the Doctor.

"I am an agent of the Khata'al Alliance here on this world hunting a criminal from the Rapacious Conglomeration. I do not know this Shadow Proclamation. Identify yourself!"

"I'm the Doctor and this is Rose Tyler and this world is our home." The Doctor responded with authority.

The agent pointed to unconscious alien Abby and said "This creature is a criminal wanted on over 100 worlds for theft, piracy, destruction of Satellite Tek 6, embezzlement, dealing in endangered species, criminal use of the sacred chalice of Ute, blasphemy, taunting of the fluffy fezzby and tax evasion. Just being in her presence makes you an accessory to her crimes."

"Accessory, no no no, we just came her to buy a house. That's all. Just a lovely home to start our family. She was selling us this home you see. We didn't know anything was wrong until she started her overly aggressive sales pitch. Honestly, she was pretty determined, didn't want us to leave. We had to whallop her over the head to convince her to let us leave. I mean really, we did you a favor didn't we? After all, we rather incapacitated her for you. " The Doctor responded in his most charming voice.

"You and the female are not native to this world, you are accessories and will be remanded to the Khata'al Alliance for processing."

"Ohhh don't do that! I hate processing! All those forms in duplicate and triplicate not to mention the everlasting interviews, evaluations and hearing after hearing. There must be some way to resolve this here." the Doctor said hopefully using his most persuasive voice.

"Perhaps we can provide you with some identification to prove to you that we are innocent and if anything, victims of this imposter estate agent." The Doctor suggested, a brilliant idea forming in his mind.

"Produce identification." replied the agent.

"Okay, now I'm just going to reach into my pocket and pull it out slowly so let's not get carried away shall we." said the Doctor in a calm voice.

"Slowly, any attempt to wield a weapon will result in death." The agent replied.

"Death, that's pretty extreme don't you think?" the Doctor mumbled while pulling out his slightly psychic paper which he hoped would be enough to work on this creature. He'd liberated it during his one and only visit to Torchwood and had been working on enhancing it for a the last few months.

"Really, taunting the fluffy fezzby is a crime?" He mused as he handed over the slightly psychic paper. The Doctor focused on the paper to make sure it projected an acceptable identification and authority and hoped the Agent did not have any psychic training.

The swirling colors on the Agent's appendage enveloped the psychic paper. After an excruciating wait for the Doctor, the paper flew back at him.

"Witness protection program confirmed. You and the female will not interfere or you will be detained."

By this time, Rose was starting to recover. She looked up as the Agent walked over to Abby who was starting to regain consciousness. Rose finally got a good look at Abby or whoever she really was. The first thing she noticed was the numerous appendages. She was long and serpentine with three arm-like appendages on each side of her snake like body. Her skin with smooth and yellow-green in color with some striations of red throughout. Her head protruded from her body and was rounded more like that of a tortoise with two golden colored eyes and a lipless slit of a mouth. Rose wondered how she moved about erect like a humanoid without any legs.

Abby looked up and scowled at the Agent. She turned to Rose and the Doctor, who was now able to move over next to Rose.

"You can't let the bounty hunter take me. There won't be a trial, I'll be put to death the moment he dumps me at alliance headquarters."

Rose looked up at the Doctor. "If he's a bounty hunter, shouldn't he have some sort of warrant for her?"

"She was going to kill you Rose and as I recall, she showed no regard for any human life." he answered quietly his voice tinged with anger.

"But its still not right." Rose replied. "There's got to be some kind of legality otherwise aliens like this bounty hunter could come in and just take anyone." Rose tried to convince the Doctor emphasizing the word "anyone."

The Doctor sighed, "Fine." He turned and looked at the Agent who was binding Abby in restraints.

"Look Agent whoever you are, the majority of settlements on this world believe in certain legal protocols that requires legal authority be produced before criminals are apprehended."

The Agent turned to the Doctor. "The Khata'al Alliance does not need to justify its actions to the inhabitants of primitive worlds or those hiding on such worlds. Be thankful I accept your identification and leave you to your concealment on this world."

The Doctor looked at Rose "I'm sorry, there's nothing we can do."

"But, I'm innocent!" Abby shouted. "I've been framed as you humans put it. I may have had a few disagreements with authorities on a few worlds but I most certainly have not done all the things they allege. I only came her to steal alien technology that this world shouldn't have in the first place! I needed it to bribe the officials who have falsely accused me."

"But you threatened to kill the Doctor and me not to mention half the planet." Rose reminded her.

"Oh I didn't really mean all that!"

"Enough" Shouted the agent. "Transport arriving in 32 galactic zods."

"What's a galactic zod?" Rose asked.

"I'll explain to you later" said the Doctor. He turned to Abby.

"Well Abby can't say its been a pleasure. Wish you had been honest with us, maybe we could have helped you."

Rose looked at her hands and had a thought. Suddenly she smiled and turned to Abby.

"Ya know Abby, maybe you'll get a second chance; ya know, a chance to make things right. If you did, you'd be pretty grateful wouldn't ya?"

Abby scowled looking at her but then suddenly all the tension left her face and Rose would swear later, if a snake smiled, it would look like Abby looked right then.

"Yes, I might be grateful and …"

In a flash Abby and the Agent were gone.

"All right, what was that all about?" The Doctor asked as he helped Rose up.

"Just trying to give her a chance to do the right thing and maybe win us a little favor." replied Rose a bit pleased with herself.

"Rose, hand me the MST."

The Doctor looked at the MST and then Rose. "How'd you do that?" He asked examining the MST. Rose had somehow manipulated it so that it would weaken any restraining fields within a 5 meter radius which meant that a certain restrained fugitive may not have been quite so restrained when she was transported away.

"Not sure" Rose shrugged. "It's like when were down under the house, I just sort of knew. I think maybe our Lady Tardis wanted me to help her."

The Doctor was not happy. Sometimes he worried Rose was just too compassionate and trusting. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about it this time. The Doctor looked around and looked back at Rose.

"What is it Doctor?" Rose asked.

"She said we were gone for over a day. Shouldn't Torchwood be looking for us? Rose, hand me your phone."

Rose pulled out her mobile and handed it to the Doctor. The Doctor put on his brainy specs and examined it with his sonic and found that someone had interfered with the GPS and the phone signal. He looked at Rose and smiled.

"I think our new friend from down below didn't want anyone to find us."

"All right but still, wouldn't they have come lookin for us?" Rose asked.

They walked out the front door of the house and found that Rose's BMW was gone. Rose turned to the Doctor.

"Alien Abby nicked my car!" Rose exclaimed.

"No good deed goes unpunished." Replied the Doctor.

"I wonder what else she did while we were gone." Rose worried.

The Doctor stood their staring out at the sky, a dark look coming over his face. "It's not over Rose, I can feel…"

Rose stopped him right there. "Don't you dare say you feel a storm comin!" She practically shouted at him.

He looked down at her, his face softening. "Oh Rose, I'm never letting that happen again." He pulled her into his arms and she pressed her lips against his in a gentle kiss which deepened. Adventure always seemed to spark passion for them. Rose broke the kiss and looked back at the house.

"Guess we better call Torchwood and let them know we're okay" Rose mused.

"Hmm" was all the Doctor said.

"Whatcha thinking?" Rose asked.

"Rodents."

"Okkkaaay, what about em?" Rose was a little worried.

"We have to get rid of them, remember there in the walls in the basement. We can't exactly call an exterminator with our Lady down below now can we." Suddenly the Doctor got a grin on his face. Rose saw that smile and just knew it was trouble.

"Rose Tyler did I ever tell you about the time on I visited the town of Hamelin in 1284 and saved the town from a hoard of rats using nothing more than a sonic and a flute?"

"What liked the pied piper?"

The Doctor just grinned. "Welllll maybe the part of disposing of the rats, the rest was rubbish made up by the Brothers Grimm who may have had a bit of grudge against me." He explained while tugging at his ear.

"You're kidding right? Uh Doctor? Where you going? Uh Doctor, no not now, we have to call Torchwood!"

The Doctor quite gleefully bounced back into the house. Rose sighed and pull out her mobile. Yes she had to fall in love with the alien genius obsessed with everything being a little more sonic and who now had an unhealthy obsession with sonically removing rats from their new home. She sighed, smiled and knew she wouldn't have it any other way.

a/n: Yea! Another chapt. done! Still more to come. Thanks for reading!


	6. Mystic Dreams and Rude Aliens

a/n Thanks for reading! Yes, I am a bit obsessed with acronyms and fluffy creatures apparently. Not too much further to go on this one. I am pretty sure there will be a sequel.

Disclaimer: Do not own the Doctor, Rose or anyone in the whoverse.

**MYSTIC DREAMS AND RUDE ALIENS**

"Really, Rose the state you were in. I just don't know how the two of you manage to find so much trouble bein you're here on Earth instead off travelin the universe." Jackie said as she took a sip of her tea.

"It's not our fault Mum. It's not like we knew the estate agent was an alien, just turned out that way." Rose answered taking a sip of her own tea.

Jackie put down her cup and leaned on the table. "The two of you went missing for almost two days and you with your mobile. All that time you waited before ringing us and how did we find the two of you, covered in muck, laughing and carrying on in that old place like it was nothing. I don't know why you were even lookin at a place so far away. Don't you think it's a bit large for just you and the Doctor?"

"Mum, my mobile was jammed. I called when I could. The Doctor and I just made the best of it and we love that house. Livin in the flat is just killin the Doctor. He's used to so much more room and constantly bein on the move. Dutton Manor will give him plenty of room to wander and he can have his own study to write and tinker. He needs it Mum and besides someone with experience with rifts needs to be livin there. The flat was fine when I was working on the Dimension Cannon, I didn't need much, but this place will be ours. It's perfect for us."

Pete walked into the kitchen took off his jacket and sat down at the table. "Well, looks like there were several aliens masquerading as estate agents at Attlebys. We still don't know everything they were up to but its looking like they were petty criminals and con artists. Rose, looks like you and the Doctor helped us break up quite a crime syndicate. We think Abby knew about the rift and her plan was to sell the house and wait for the owners to disappear or run off and then step in to sell it again. She and Attlebys could have made a fortune from that Scam."

Rose looked down at her tea. She and the Doctor had glossed over the details and only told Torchwood about being trapped in the cellar, the rift being there, Abby being an alien and being taken away by the bounty hunter. She felt a little bad not telling the complete truth to her Mum and Pete but she believed the Doctor was right, it would be too dangerous for everyone if they knew the whole truth.

"Don't suppose, there's any word on my car?" Rose asked.

"We found your car in a field about 10 kilometers from the house. After we couldn't get a hold of you or track your GPS, we started investigating. Abby told us that you and the Doctor had left the house about an hour after your appointment. We think she abandoned your car in the field with an alien artifact to try and distract us."

"Well at least I can get my car back."

"Uh Rose, I don't think that's possible, you see it's contaminated. We have to quarantine it."

"Quarantine! What am I suppose to do!" Rose lamented.

"Don't worry sweetheart, I'll take care of it." Pete said.

"It's just not right Pete. I hate to ask it, you've done so much for us already." Rose said softly.

"Nonsense! If it wasn't for you and the Doctor, we wouldn't be a family and after all you and the Doctor have done, I want to. Of course, Torchwood appreciates the two of you moving into the Dutton Manor, especially with its history and considering it sits on a rift, we can't allow anyone else to live there. You really are doing us a favor." Pete said.

"Well we appreciate you helping us out with it and at least after all this bad publicity, the manor is practically a steal. It's not like they can ask a ransom for it now." Rose said starting to smile.

"Not to worry. I've asked my solicitor, Mr. Jones to handle the details. We'll get the purchase completed as quickly and quietly as possible. I know you and the Doctor are anxious to get settled, especially after all this excitement." Pete told her.

"Thanks Pete, we really appreciate it." Rose told him warmly and gave him a hug.

"So where is himself?" Jackie enquired.

"You know the Doctor, can't keep him still. I think he went outside to play with Tony." Rose said as she looked out the window.

Jackie got up and told Rose she'd fetch the Doctor while Rose and Pete worked out the details regarding Dutton Manor.

Jackie stood in the garden watching Tony chase the Doctor around. She smiled and couldn't help being happy that she had both Rose and the Doctor here. Although he had caused her heartbreak and grief early on, she loved him with all her heart. He had done so much for Rose and given Jackie a second chance with Pete, well alternate Pete. Still, not many people had this kind of chance at happiness and she wasn't going to waste it arguing with him over Rose. Of course, that didn't mean she was going to make things easy for him either.

"Doctor! Tony! Time to come in!"

"Awwww do we have to!" Whined the Doctor.

"In Now, Shift!" Jackie ordered her hands on her hips.

Tony ran up to Jackie, gave her hug and ran inside. The Doctor followed behind slowly making his way back up to the house. When he reached Jackie, he stopped as he sensed, she had something to say.

"So, you took my daughter to a haunted house with an alien up to no good." Jackie started.

The Doctor tried to defend himself "Now Jackie, it wasn't like that." Jackie of course, interrupted him.

"Wasn't like that! Come on, the two of you were almost buried alive. Don't forget the house is haunted and who knows what else could of happened. You promised me you would always bring her home to me, you haven't forgotten that have you?" Jackie continued.

The Doctor solemnly looked Jackie in the eyes. "Rose is my priority now. I'll never let anything happen to her. That house is our home, ours, mine and Rose's, our sanctuary. Nothing, not Torchwood or anything, will stop me from seeing to it that Rose is safe and happy."

Jackie smiled and gave the Doctor a hug. "Good. Just you remember, anything happens to her and you have me to deal with and I will be ten times worse than Torchwood if you ever hurt my Rose. Now come on, cook just pulled fresh biscuits from the oven."

"Ooooo biscuits! What kind?" The Doctor asked with excitement, not only for fresh biscuits but for an end to an uncomfortable conversation with Jackie.

Two weeks later, Rose and the Doctor were boxing up their flat in preparation for the move. Well, Rose was boxing, the Doctor was examining each and every item and keeping up a running dialogue of comments of what they needed it for and wouldn't it be better if he improved it.

"Let's take a break, fancy a cuppa at Starbelle's?" Rose said ready for a rest.

The Doctor jumped up, grabbed his brand new tan colored trench coat which he found in second hand shop while Rose was running an errand at Torchwood. The day that Rose saw him in that coat, was emotional for both of them. He'd asked her what she thought and with a hitch in her voice she answered the standard "I love it." It was a moment filled with memories and hope for the future.

As they left the flat, Rose couldn't help but think this was one of the last times they would leave the flat together to have tea at Starbelles. It was like she could see their lives stretching out before them but simultaneously, she was focused on this particular moment, almost like a bubble of time. It was special and she wanted to memorize every detail.

"You're a bit quiet, you okay?" The Doctor asked.

"Yeah, just thinkin how this part of our lives is endin and when we move to the manor, something new is beginning. Just don't want to miss any of it." She said with a smile.

He looked at her and couldn't help but be amazed. She was so in tune with everything and becoming more intuitive with the flow of time and the physical world around her every day. Oh but he was so lucky to be here with her!

At Starbelles Rose enforced the single pastry rule. The last thing she wanted to deal with was a sugar-high Doctor while she had to pack. As they settled down, the Doctor decided they should have a discussion about the upcoming move.

"Rose, we need to be sure we keep a close eye on the movers. I don't want them to be left unattended. I'm a bit concerned about security."

"What do ya mean? Are you worried about someone like Abby coming back?" Rose asked worried.

"Well she may not have been the only one interested in Dutton Manor. I just want to be cautious. Until, I have security measures up, we need to take care." The Doctor said pensively.

"How long before you have security up?" Rose asked

"Oh won't take long, but I will have to check the house for any monitoring devices. Don't want Torchwood or anyone else snooping. Until then, we need to be careful what we say and do in the house. Oh I know!" Said the Doctor excitedly. "Let's have a secret code, I love secret codes!"

"A secret code for what? Our friend in the basement?" Rose wondered.

"Yes! Oh lets see, how about the Matriarch, nooo too formal and people might think we're hiding Jackie in the basement" The Doctor shuddered at the thought.

"How about TCB, its an acronym for temporal creature below." Rose suggested.

"Oh an acronym, how very humany!" The Doctor exclaimed. "I think I like it, TCB, TCB, how does it sound Rose?"

"I think it's lovely!"

"TCB it is then!."

After tea, they went back and continued their packing. That night, Rose was exhausted and went to sleep leaving the Doctor to his puttering and projects. After settling down into a deep sleep, Rose began to dream….

Rose was lying on a chase lounge beneath the ornate stained glass window in their new master bedroom. She was wearing silk cream colored loungewear which glowed in the golden and amber light filtering through the window. She had a book lying face down on her lap. There was music playing and the sweet, soft melody was floating through the room reminding Rose of soft violins mixed with the sound of the singing waterfalls of Aquaria. There were vases in the room filled with daisies and purple iris. A breeze blew the door to the bedroom open almost as if beckoning Rose to follow the melody. Rose set the book aside and slowly walked barefoot from the room and into the hall. She followed the music, walking down the main staircase through the great hall into the solarium and out to the garden.

The garden was abloom with every color of flower imaginable but seemed to be dominated with anything the color of purple. Rose inhaled the sweet scent of jasmine and walked further into the garden. Suddenly she found herself in a garden maze but she didn't know how she came to be there. She slowly meandered through the maze trailing her fingers along the bushes. She reached a divergence in the maze where the path split into two paths. There was a small white furry creature which looked like a koala bear with wings. It looked at her with its large dark eyes and picked up a banana in its paws.

It asked her, "Would you care for some? I hear its full of potassium."

"Uh, thanks but no. Do you know where we are by any chance?" Rose replied.

"That's not the right question Rose Tyler." Her furry little friend answered while taking a bite of banana.

"All right, what is the right question then?" Rose asked.

"How can you not know?" It replied.

"Because I don't. Who are you anyway?" She asked with frustration.

"I'm the Esteemed First Prime Fluffy Fezzby." It replied looking at her like she should know.

"Am I suppose to be impressed?" she asked with a bit of attitude.

The Fluffy Fezzby ruffled itself, flaring its wings and holding itself up and replied "I should think so! I don't just appear to anyone you know and I am in high demand!" It sniffed and settled itself back down. "Now, since you seem to be a bit clueless, I will try and simplify it for you."

"Rude! You might be all esteemed and wise but you could use some manners!" Rose chastised the Fezzby.

The Fluffy Fezzby rolled its eyes and sighed. "Fine, gentle Rose Tyler, may I suggest you think about all that has happened to you since you first met the Doctor. Now, certainly even you must see that everything that has occurred was based on choices you made."

Rose pondered this statement. Yes she certainly could see how some of the choices she made effected how things had occurred. She chose to grab that chain under the London Eye and save the Doctor; she said yes to traveling with the Doctor; she chose to stay with the Doctor after their first trip even though it was all a bit overwhelming; she touched the Dalek in Van Statten's museum; she grabbed the rope to the barrage balloon which is how she met Jack; she chose the Doctor over Mickey time and again; she chose to go back for the Doctor at Satellite 5. Oh wait. Satellite 5, that was a bit important. Now it all started to play out before her like a movie, only a movie flying by at high speed.

"Finally!" Shouted the Fluffy Fezzby. "You are starting to see."

"You said I didn't ask the right question. I think I know what that means now. How will I find my way? How do I know what to do?" she asked looking seriously at the Fezzby.

"You will find your way when you learn to sing." It answered mysteriously.

"But I don't know what that means!" Rose answered with frustration.

"Look, its not my job to explain, only to guide. You're the one that merged with the Doctor's Tardis and absorbed the time vortex, you figure it out." It replied with a bit of snark.

"Great, I'm stuck here with a cryptic fluffy alien with attitude and I'm suppose to know what to do." Rose moaned. She sighed. "All right there are two paths on either side of you, can you guide me as to which one to choose. I mean is one the path to doom and one the path to happiness?" She asked.

"As your choices have placed you on the path you now stand, choice shall determine your future. You must choose and no one may choose for you. Be warned, choosing is not always easy and the easy choice is not always the correct one. What has guided your choices in the past Rose Tyler?"

Rose thought about this. She had always chosen based on her feelings and instincts. She knew she had to save the Doctor because it was the right thing to do; she knew she wanted to stay with him because it felt right and she couldn't imagine her life without him; she touched the Dalek because it was lonely and she didn't want it to be alone; she grabbed the barrage balloon rope to save a child who sounded lost and in trouble; maybe she chose the Doctor over Mickey because she knew that Mickey didn't really need her but the Doctor did; and finally, she couldn't leave the Doctor to die because she loved him and she could never abandon someone she loved to stand against the terror of the Dalek army even at the cost of her own life. Yes, she understood, love, compassion, empathy and sacrifice.

She turned to the Fluffy Fezzby "Thanks, your eminence, you really have helped me. Sorry I didn't see it earlier."

"Well its about time! Honestly, it's so obvious, most species would have seen it by now." the Fezzby ranted.

Rose just looked at the rude and indignant little fluffy creature and laughed.

"Do you mock me!" It exclaimed.

"Oh noooo." Rose answered remembering how one of Abby's crimes was mocking the Fezzby. "It's not you, it's just me and this whole dream. Thanks again for your help. It all right if I move along now?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Fine paltry human be gone. I have other creatures to guide and better things to do other than linger around a human's dream state." With, that the Fluffy Fezzby disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

Rose took a deep breath and took a step down one of the paths. As she walked, she began to once again hear the music. She found herself starting to hum to match the melody. Soon she started to smell something. She wrinkled her nose and realized, it smelled like peanut butter. The scent of it became overpowering and she heard one of the bushes saying her name over and over "Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose." One minute she was in the garden the next, sitting up on her bed with the Doctor beside her, nose to nose.

"Doctor!" She exclaimed. "Why'd you wake me up, I was havin this dream." she said sleepily and yawning.

"It's moving day Rose!" The Doctor bounced up and down on the bed.

"Right," Rose said sleepily. She looked at the clock and saw that it was 7:00, might as well get up. They needed to be at the Solicitors by 9:00.

"Doctor, do you smell peanut butter?" she asked.

"Oh, yes, I thought I would try peanut butter and jam toast for breakfast." the Doctor replied smacking his lips.

Rose grimaced. That did not sound appetizing. She decided to shower, finish packing and grab a bite to eat on the way to the Solicitors. The Doctor could finish packing while she was getting ready. She needed a hot shower and some alone time to think about her dream.

At the Solicitor's, Rose thought she was going to have to tie the Doctor to the chair but strangely, he seemed fascinated by all the papers spread over the table.

"Doctor, you doing ok with all this?" Rose asked.

The Doctor removed his glasses and looked seriously at Rose.

"You know on some worlds this is a form of torture. Making people sort through endless papers and signing over and over again. A true bureaucratic nightmare! Just think of all the beautiful trees you lot put down just so we could be here signing some useless, meaningless drabble for a legal system that will be completely re-written in the year…

Rose put her finger on his lips. "Doctor, fingers on lips." she said quietly.

Just then, the solicitor, Ianto Jones walked in. Rose and the Doctor just stared. Finally, Rose pulled herself to together and shook his hand. The Doctor sat back in the chair and put his brainy specs back on looking Mr. Jones up and down.

"So, you are here to see that our purchase of the old Dutton Manor happens smoothly and legally I take it." The Doctor said to Mr. Jones.

"Yes, Doctor, I have been apprised of yours and Ms. Tyler's situation. I'm quite familiar with this transaction and the special circumstances. Do you have any questions?" Mr. Jones answered the Doctor in a quiet professional manner.

"Oh I always have questions!" The Doctor responded with enthusiasm.

"We're fine Mr. Jones, if you could just point out any restrictions or limitations to anything we might be needin to do to the house and where we need to sign, we'll be out of here quickly." Rose addressed to Mr. Jones hoping to cut off any Doctory rambling.

"Yes, maam. Due to the special nature of Dutton Manor, the United Planetary Council has designated you and the Doctor as SA1 (Special Ambassador 1) which means that you are official representatives of Earth and may take certain limited actions for the protection of the planet including specifically, monitoring and securing of any spacial temporal rifts on Plant Earth. There will be no restrictions to any modifications you need to perform on the Manor."

The Doctor turned to Rose and said "Oh we're doomed now! The planetary bureaucracy has found, categorized and labeled us, and given us an acronym! See humany!"

Rose put her head in her hands, took a deep breath and turned to Mr. Jones.

"Thanks Mr. Jones, I think we understand. Does any of this come with any strings attached? Ya know, do they want to inspect us or something? The UPC may think this house is some huge planetary security risk but to the Doctor and me its our home. Understand?"

"As long as you and the Doctor keep things under control and prevent any mass destruction or alien invasion from escaping the rift, the UPC would prefer that the Dutton Manor matter be kept as quiet as possible. Mr. Tyler has been appointed as your liaison with the UPC. I have been asked by the UPC to reiterate the need for discretion in this matter. Will that suffice?"

The Doctor scoffed but Rose was relieved. The last thing they needed was bureaucrats demanding a tour. Rose asked Mr. Jones to point out the specifics so they could sign and leave. By this time, the Doctor's patience was wearing thin and he had already started examining the crystal paper weight on the table and Rose was just waiting for him to start sonicing it. She knew time was of the essence and she needed to get him out of there before something exploded or he decided to start improving the fountain pens. It was a tremendous relief as she watched the Doctor almost violently scratch his signature across the page of the last document.

"Congratulations Ms. Tyler, Doctor. I hope you enjoy your new home and should you require assistance, in the future, please do not hesitate to contact me."

Rose and the Doctor practically ran to her new car, a tardis blue 1961 MGA roadster that the Doctor picked out. They raced back to Dutton Manor, keys in hand.

"Home at last!" The Doctor exclaimed as they burst through the doors. He walked over to one the walls and gave it a gentle caress. Rose just marveled that some things never changed. She walked over and put her arms around him. They stood in the entryway, their arms around each other listening to the pleased hum of their lady beneath the house. Their quiet enjoyment was ruined with the sound of Rose's mobile.

Torchwood, now they were in trouble.


	7. Drenched in Temporal Conundrums

a/n: Nope they are not settling in the new home yet. Something always interrupts them. Still exploring characters a bit - this is my attempt at Jake and Malcolm. Thanks for reading and as always, reviews are much appreciated.

Disclaimer: I do now own Doctor Who or any characters, just borrowing for a bit. I don't own Sudoko either.

**Drenched in Temporal Conundrums**

"Stop your whinging!" Rose chastised the Doctor. "It won't take us long. We just have to make sure that Jake doesn't blow up London."

The Doctor had refused to drive so Rose was forced to drive the new sports car which made her a bit uncomfortable. This car was the Doctor's latest pet project and he was a bit protective of it. Rose noticed he winced every time she shifted gears which she supposed was better than the incredible oncoming pout he had been sporting ever since they left Dutton Manor.

"Doctor we'll be there in about 45 minutes and I know we'll have this sorted in no time."

The Doctor sighed looking off in the distance. He was so ready to start working on securing the house so they could focus on the TCB. He knew the old girl was anxious for them to get settled so they could focus on their project. He had an enormous amount of work ahead of him putting the house in order and collecting the odds and ends he would need to manufacture and build equipment for supporting the old girl not to mention working on a Tardis nursery. He needed to get Rose up to speed on several key elements of this project and he couldn't do that with Torchwood popping in at the most inopportune moments.

"Weren't the movers scheduled for this afternoon?" The Doctor asked grumpily.

"Yeah but they've been delayed. Besides, its not like we had a whole lot of things to move from the flat."

Rose looked over it him again, worried that this whole Torchwood thing would blow up.

"Ya know, while we're there, maybe we could pick up supplies so we wouldn't have to go out tomorrow." Rose suggested helpfully.

The Doctor looked over at her and smiled. "Fine, we save Jake, get supplies and head back so we don't have to leave again until we've made progress."

The Doctor and Rose could never stay mad at each other for long, especially when the argument was about getting into or out of an adventure. When the arrived at town on the outskirts of London they found Jake and his team had secured an area in the middle of town around a fountain. Rose and the Doctor nodded at Jake's team and headed straight over to him.

"All right Jakey my boy, what have ya got for me!" The Doctor asked once again regaining his enthusiasm.

"Doctor, Rose, sorry to interrupt your settlin in but we had reports of people disappearin around the fountain here and came to investigate. Dr. Taylor has detected an odd radiation in the area of the fountain which we pinned down to something that appears to be stuck to the side of the statute in the middle of the fountain. It's weird, we know it's there but we can't see it."

The Doctor put on his glasses and walked around the fountain examining the statute from a distance. He came back to Rose and Jake.

"Well at least it's not an Angel" He said with relief.

"What's so bad about Angels?" Jake asked with curiosity.

"Welll, it's a long story, let's just say if you come across a stone angel, well, don't just don't okay Jakey."

Jake just looked at Rose. She shrugged, and started to examine the statute herself. The Doctor grabbed her arm.

"Not so fast. There's something off here." The Doctor said while focused on the fountain.

The Doctor walked over to Dr. Taylor and examined his readings. He looked back at the fountain and decided he needed to take a closer look. He stepped over the rim of the retaining wall into the water and made his way over to the statute at the center. The statute was made of white marble and was a replica of a mermaid on a pedestal held up by a column with three young men leaning against it and beneath them at the water level four young girls each holding an urn looking down at the pool of water. The water cascaded from beneath the mermaid over the pedestal gently running down past the young men and maidens into the pool below. The Doctor made his way closer to the base of the column behind one of the maidens. There. He definitely could see something out of the corner of his eye, definitely wrong. He tapped into his Time Lord senses to try and see past what he was sure was a perception filter.

Rose and Jake walked up beside the Doctor followed by Dr. Malcolm Taylor still holding his scanning equipment.

"Aha! There you are! You gorgeous piece of technology!" The Doctor exclaimed.

Jake, Rose and Malcolm all looked at him.

"What?" Rose asked. "I don't see anything."

"Yeah," replied Jake. "What should we be seein?"

Malcolm made an adjustment to his scanner.

"Doctor, does this have anything to do with the radical fluctuation of the electromagnetic temporal refraction? It appears to be off the scale! We've never seen anything like this before." Malcolm remarked in his most excited scientific jargony way.

The Doctor looked at Malcolm. He was actually quite insightful and intuitive for a human of this century. Unfortunately, he appeared to have a bit of a crush on the Doctor. The Doctor walked over and took a look at the latest readings.

"Malcolm one day you must tell me what inspired you to build this mechanism. It's primitive but lovely in a humany kind of way. You're on the right track but the power source is all wrong and where did you get the crystalline wavelength sensor? That particular sensor was never designed for this type of application, it's usually found in a Barcelonian version of a DVR and when I say Barceolonian I mean the planet not the city."

Malcolm blushed a bit, but was happy to have someone of the Doctor's superior intellect with which to discuss his creation. Most of his supervisors at Torchwood never seemed to understand the complex theoretical spacial temporal physics involved in most of his projects. He read all the files about the Doctor and had followed Rose around like a lost puppy listening to her many stories about her travels with the Doctor. Working on the Dimension Cannon with Rose had been the culmination of years of theoretical study and lab work. He had thrived in the environment of sending Rose through the void to each new adventure in her search for the Doctor, as well as empathized with her disappointment with each failure to make contact. Each jump made him more and more determined that Rose would find the Doctor. When Rose landed in the parallel world where the Doctor had died, it was Malcolm who took her aside and told her not to give up, that in science, each failure was an opportunity to learn and formulate new hypothesis. He never forgot how Rose smiled at him and thanked him for keeping positive. Perhaps the most memorable part of the Dimension Cannon experiment was when Rose told him it was time for him to come with her, that she needed his help. He had never been in the field on a mission like that, much less left his world to venture to a new one. When Rose showed him the Doctor's Tardis in the parallel world, he knew he had to help her save him. He had to meet the genius alien who piloted such a magnificent piece of technology! Thus began Malcolm's crush on the Doctor.

"Really! Oh I must hear more about that Doctor. You see this crystal was expelled from the Cardiff rift and sent to London for further study. Doctors O'Neal and Akel were just going to classify it as useless and dump it in a bin with miscellaneous unidentifiable bits but I knew I had to examine it further. You see, you have inspired me Doctor! Even the most insignificant item can be a source of beauty and a useful tool." Malcolm excitedly exclaimed to the Doctor while bouncing from foot to foot.

"Riiiight, well Malcolm, let's see if we tweak some of these bits so we can fully reveal the device that someone has tucked away in this fountain." The Doctor responded a little uncomfortable with Malcolm's obvious adoration.

"Doctor, do I need to clear more of the area? Is this thing dangerous? I mean, is it gonna explode or zap us into the future or the past or something?" Asked Jake getting a little nervous and needing to do something rather than stand there watching Malcolm and the Doctor tinker with a device that for all Jake knew, could implode and suck them into another dimension.

"Naaawww, it'll be all right… probably." Remarked the Doctor as he continued to work on Malcolm's scanner.

"Rose, is he serious, should we be worried?" Jake whispered to Rose.

"Well Jake it is the Doctor, so ya know anything can happen. Relax, if anything goes wrong, we have the Doctor and Malcolm here to figure it out and besides at least it won't be boring." Rose told Jake smiling and patting him on the arm.

"That's what I'm afraid of." muttered Jake.

Soon the Doctor finished removing parts from Malcolm's scanner and reassembled them into a new configuration which was a smaller device. He pulled out his sonic and waived it over the device a few times before aiming the new modified scanner at the base of the statute. The effect was instantaneous. An amber colored orb appeared at the base of the statute in the fountain. Periodically it pulsed with a glow about it. Beneath it was a turquoise mossy like substance that appeared to spread out from beneath it onto the marble structure almost like it was growing out of the orb.

"Gorgeous! Oh you are just lovely and so totally wrong! How did you get here?" The Doctor said as he walked up to the orb and knelt down beside it.

"Doctor what is it?" Asked Rose.

"Oh this is a little bit of home, my home and it is completely impossible for it to be here. It just can't exist." The Doctor said rubbing a hand through his hair.

Rose knelt down beside him and gently put her hand on his shoulder. She looked at the orb pulse. It was almost hypnotic. She felt compelled to touch it.

"No!" Screamed the Doctor and pulled Rose back. "You can't touch it!"

While the Doctor pulled Rose back Malcolm had knelt forward and before the Doctor could stop him, laid his hand on the orb. Immediately there was a change in the air pressure and the breeze that had been blowing through Roses hair stilled. The only sound they could hear was the Doctor's sigh.

"I really really wish you hadn't done that." The Doctor said glaring at Malcolm.

Malcolm looked down at where his hand was and pulled it back as if he had been bitten by something. He looked at the Doctor almost in shock.

"I don't know why I did that! It was almost like I was compelled, like I couldn't not touch it. I don't understand, what happened?" Malcolm practically stuttered.

"I thought you said everything would be all right!" Jake yelled.

"Everything's all right." Responded the Doctor as he looked around them at the Torchwood agents standing outside the fountain. No one outside the fountain was moving. It was like they were stuck in time. The question was, who was stuck in time, the outside world or those standing in the fountain?

"Doctor." Rose said softly.

"All right here's the problem. The orb sitting so quietly hidden away in this fountain contains a bit of raw time. Normally unless activated, it would be harmless but something has happened and its leaking. It's probably been leaking for some time now which may be why people have gone missing here. Not just missing, lost in time and that is a very dangerous thing. You see, they could be in the past or future. If they fell into the past, one small change could change everything in this world and perhaps it already has." The Doctor worried.

"So these missing people could have ended up anywhere in history?" Asked Jake.

"I'm afraid so and that's not the worst of it. One small change, something so simple as discovering penicillin a century before it was meant to be could alter human development, causing you lot to evolve too quickly or even destroy you. Time travel is serious business, not intended for the reckless or careless." Lectured the Doctor.

"So what do we do? How do we shut it off?" Jake demanded.

"We can't just shut it off. We could collapse the web of time and destroy not only this universe but all of them in a cascading effect. We have to be deliberate about this. First things first, no more getting friendly with the orb and that means all of you. I have to examine it and determine the extent of the temporal corrosion as well as establish if it's possible to retrieve the missing people. Oh, and one more thing, none of us can leave the fountain. If we even attempt to leave, we could be lost in time and that would be a very bad thing." The Doctor paced back and forth sloshing his way through the water as he explained the extent of their predicament.

"Oh, I see!" Said Malcolm. "It's a temporal weigh station and if we step off the platform, we could be at any place on the timeline. Oh dear, that's very not good." He shook his head and picked up the remains of his scanner fingering the parts in a nervous manner.

"Right, so what can we do to help you Doctor?" Rose said in a upbeat positive manner. Things may look gloomy but her faith in the Doctor kept her grounded and focused on doing something to solve the problem.

"Everyone look through your pockets, lets see what we have to work with." The Doctor asked them.

They grouped together at the base of the fountain to compare what materials they had to work with to solve their present dilemma. Rose had her mobile, chewing gum, plum flavored lip gloss, plum being a favored flavor in Pete's World, a pen, keys and a credit card; Jake had substantially more as he was kitted out for this mission so his contribution was a mobile, head gear, epad, stunner, multipurpose watch and pocket knife; Malcolm, on the other hand, had the remains of his scanner, another epad, a protein bar and digital pen; the Doctor of course had an assortment of items in his very Time Lord enhanced pockets. Their collection of assets, were varied and quite useful.

The Doctor went about examining the orb and determined that the leakage had started in the past 50 years. The organic material growing beneath the orb was a hybrid and was somewhat similar in nature to Tardis coral although was not sentient. This of course, peaked the Doctor's interest and he was determined that he was going to find a way for Rose and he take the orb back to Dutton Manor to assist with their project. All it would take is a little slight of hand. Right now, however, he had to find a way to reverse the present circumstances.

He used the epads and combined them with the stunner using a bit of chewing gum and attaching some parts he had leftover in his pocket. He modified the electronic pen to work as a focusing device. He soniced the scanner he had built to coordinate with all these devices.

Jake and Rose had been sitting on the base of the fountain chatting and playing a game of Sudoko on their ephones. Malcolm was mentally reviewing his notes while periodically examining the remains of his scanner which the Doctor had cannibalized for parts. When the Doctor exclaimed he was done, Malcolm jumped while Rose and Jake just looked up with almost bored disinterest.

"Tell me you're gettin us out of here. I'm feelin all pruny and a bit chilled not to mention the fact that I could really use a loo right about now." Rose complained. Jake merely took one of his boots and emptied the water out of it to get his point across to the Doctor. They all gathered round so they could find out how the Doctor planned on solving this.

"Oh come now, how many people can say they were caught in a time bubble! Really, you should take a minute to just appreciate the elegance of the technology of this orb." The Doctor recited to the most unsympathetic group.

"Can we just do this and get out of here!" Jake answered him.

"Fine, Malcolm you stand over there to the right of the orb with the modified pen. Jake, take the scanner and stand to the left of the orb. Rose and I will stand in front with the temporal inhibitor. When I say go, Jake point the scanner at the orb and Malcolm you point the pen at the Temporal Inhibitor. When we start this none of you can move and I mean not a millimeter. You must stay in your exact position. If you move, you could be lost in time. It's gonna get intense and when I say intense, its going to feel like you are in the heart of a storm, which actually you will be. Ignore any strange noises or sensations, focus on the device in your hand and holding it steady."

"Doctor, what do I do?" asked Rose.

"You need to keep me grounded. I'm not full Time Lord anymore and I will be just as vulnerable as any of you. I have to concentrate on the orb and I need you to focus on me. You're my anchor just like you've always been." The Doctor said quietly gazing into her eyes.

Rose nodded and walked up to him looping her arm through his so she could maintain physical contact. She concentrated on the Doctor and nodded her head. He turned away and focused on the Orb. He yelled "Go!"

It was like the air was electrified and the wind picked up blowing so hard water was flying through the air. All of them were drenched and dripping with it. Bits of debris flew at them stinging their faces and hands. The orb pulsed with an almost blinding light. The air around them started to pressurize causing an intense pain in their ears. All four stood firm not flinching despite the pain. There was another flash and then everything just stopped. When the wind died down, they could hear people shouting, feel the sun on their faces and the fountain was beginning to flow again. They looked down at the orb and the turquoise moss was gone and the orb was dark. Rose turned and looked at the Doctor. He turned to her and smiled. They'd done it!

"Malcolm, Jake well done!" The Doctor shouted.

All of them were shouting and jumping for joy. When they looked around they saw dozens of confused people. All the people who were caught in the orb's time leak had been pulled to this moment. They were surrounded by Torchwood agents as well. Pete broke through the crowd and ran up to the Doctor.

"Are you all right?" He asked with worry.

"Oh, we're find just a bit damp." The Doctor answered with his typical charm.

"You've been gone a week, Jackie's been out of her mind with worry. Everything's gone mad, we kept detecting a rift here so we quarantined the whole town. Is it over?"

"Should be fine now. I used my handy dandy temporal inhibitor to fix the problem. All the lost people were returned and all in all, a stunning success." The Doctor said pleased and patting his new gadget.

As always, as soon as he thought everything was fine it all fell apart.


	8. Choices and Prophetic Dreams

a/n: Hello lovely readers! This chapter is mostly Rose centric and refers back to her dream in a previous chapter. Oops, I just found a consistent grammatical error made in every chapter. Sorry, its fixed here, still learning how to write dialogue but hopefully getting better at it. Thanks for reading and reviewing.

Disclaimer: Nope I don't own or profit from Doctor Who, if I did there would be a spin off series for TenII and Rose

**Choices and Prophetic Dreams**

While Pete and the Doctor were discussing the events in the fountain, Rose was stepping out of the water and accepting a blanket from a Torchwood agent. As she looked out in the crowd, she noticed someone who did not belong. He was tall with a nice tan, jet black hair, well groomed and piercing green eyes. He was dressed in a dark gray suit with a black trench coat, but what really made him stand out was that he was staring directly at the Doctor and had something metallic in his hand. Rose made her way through the crowd to get closer to him to try and get a better look and find out what he was doing. He was so focused on the Doctor and was standing so still it was clear he wasn't human. Rose was only a few meters away from him when he suddenly turned toward her. She stopped and stared back at him.

He started walking toward here whistling something almost casually. Rose decided that it was best to walk up and confront him and she strode forward with purpose.

"Hello, I couldn't help but notice you in the crowd, do you need help with something?" Rose asked trying to figure him out.

"Rose Tyler, you look lovely for a woman who just survived the equivalent of a time storm," the strange man replied in a cultured voice.

"Sorry, do I know you?"

"Not yet, but I know you. The girl who shouldn't be here, golden wanderer of the void, creature of time, yes I know all about you."

"What do you want?" Rose asked her voice clipped and stern.

"You have something of mine and I want it back," he said with a cold smile.

"Really, and what would that be?"

"Give the orb to me or the pain will increase tenfold."

"Pain what pain?" Rose heard the Doctor scream and fall to his knees grasping his head. He was immediately surrounded by Torchwood agents and medics. Rose turned to the stranger. "What did you do!"

He stared at the Doctor and turned back to her. "Taught him a lesson to not interfere in matters that don't concern him or you for that matter. Retrieve the orb now or his suffering will continue and intensify."

Rose was torn between running to comfort the Doctor and turning and putting some of her Torchwood self defense training to good use. She took a deep breath and knew she had to find out more before she made a decision.

"The orb is dangerous and was hurtin people. How do I know you won't use it against us? I mean, what's the point of me savin the Doctor by handing it over to you if you kill us anyway? Besides, if you're so powerful why don't you get it yourself?" Rose crossed her arms and glared at him trying to not show how much the Doctor's screams in the background were effecting her.

"Each minute you waste he suffers. There really is no need, it's a simple task for you to bring me the orb."

"No, not until you answer my questions and tell me who you are," Rose knew she had to be strong for herself and for the Doctor.

"I am someone you could not possibly understand little girl, now run along and fetch the orb," he leaned over closer to her in a menacing manner.

"So, definitely not human. Arrogant, rude, condescending and you know what the orb is or at least what it does. I take it you're a visitor here, maybe taking in the sights, causing a bit of mayhem while your here seein how far you can push it before someone catches on to you. What I don't think your realize is that the young girl who was trapped here 3 years ago, grew up and she doesn't put up with rude, arrogant aliens that hurt people she loves," with that comment, Rose threw the blanket at him, struck him in his midsection with her right hand while kicking at his knee causing him to buckle. As he went down, she grabbed the metallic disk from his hand. She screamed for help while she jumped on top of the mystery man.

Later, she would look back on this with amazement, but she instinctually knew what to do next While she was on top of the struggling alien who was laughing at her maniacally; she grasped the metal disc in her hand, and concentrated on the peaceful scene in her dream from the night before the closing on Dutton Manor. She could see herself in their bedroom with the lovely stained glass window only this time, she saw the Doctor lounging next to her, his arms wrapped around her looking over her shoulder at an open book in her lap. He was whispering in her ear. She didn't know what the words were but they filled her with a sense of peace. Then it was like she came back into herself only she was on a blanket on the ground and the stranger was gone. She could no longer hear the Doctor's screams and panicked at the thought that she had made things worse. Jake grabbed her shoulder and called out her name. She looked up at him stunned and then rose up and ran to the Doctor the disc still clutched in her hand.

The Doctor was lying still on the ground with an oxygen mask over his mouth and with medics hovering around him, taking his pulse and vital signs. Rose burst into tears and crouched beside him grasping his hand begging him to be all right. Pete knelt down beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"They have him stabilized Rose. Do you know what happened?"

The Doctor seemed to regain consciousness, pulled the mask off and looked at Rose. "Rose, we have to get out of here now!"

He pulled Rose closer to him and whispered to her to grab the orb, that they were all in danger and needed to get away from the crowd quickly. Rose nodded tears running down her face. The Medics put the oxygen mask back on the Doctor, lifted him onto a gurney to take him back to Torchwood's medical facility. Rose turned to Pete.

"I saw someone who didn't belong in the crowd and he may be after the Doctor. Please, Pete, take the Doctor back to Torchwood, I'll follow along after I finish up here," Rose slipped the metal disc into her pocket as she spoke to Pete.

"Rose, sweetheart, you don't have to do this, you can go with the Doctor and I'll have Jake round up everyone here for questioning. We have to debrief all of them anyway. You've been through enough," Pete said with concern.

"No, I'm the only one that's seen him. Please Pete, I need to do this," Rose practically begged.

"All right. I'll make sure the Doctor get's the best care. Don't be long and don't take any risks. I want someone with you at all times."

"Thanks Pete." Rose hugged him tightly.

She watched as Pete and the Doctor left in the ambulance, a part of her suffering for not being with the Doctor. She had to find the evil alien bloke who hurt her Doctor. She knew he was still around somewhere. She gave Agent Dennis a quick description of who they were looking for in the crowd. Jake was rounding people up, readying them for transport when an altercation broke out. Rose sent Agent Dennis to help out despite his protests at leaving her side. Once she was rid of him she walked over to the fountain, picking up a blanket on the way so she could retrieve the orb. After she carefully picked it up in the blanket and tucked it under her arm and was making her way back through the water, she saw the dark menacing alien. He stood off to the side smiling at her. She stopped a few feet away still standing in the cold water.

"You didn't think it was going to be easy did you Rose?" He asked.

"I'm not givin you the orb," She stated plainly.

"You really have no idea what I'll do to get it do you? It's my property stolen from me by petty criminals who had no idea as to its power. It's mine and I want it back," he said firmly.

"The answer's still No. Maybe this is yours and maybe you are telling the truth but you hurt the Doctor and have done nothing but threaten me and my planet. Not exactly the sort of things that make me want to give it to ya is it." Rose replied staring at him.

"Oh Rose, such a pity. You could have been so much more. There is such potential in you, such power if only we had met sooner. Unfortunately, certain things precluded that. You do know that the pathetic excuse of a half-breed Time Lord you are involved with is a mere shadow of what a Time Lord should be. He should have known all this would happen before it did. How can he possibly begin to help you become who you are meant to be. You would really do better to choose your friends more wisely. This universe is vast and those in the dark recesses, the ancient first ones, those who came before all the younger species have been watching you, this world and the nasty little tear between universes that you seem to be using for your own personal jaunts.

Listen carefully, little girl, there is a great struggle for power in this universe. The ancient eternals have little tolerance for young, reckless races like this one. The struggle between chaos and order has been ongoing since the beginning and guess what, you're in the middle of it now. Sooner or later you're going to have to choose a side. This isn't just about this planet, this galaxy or even this universe, it's about all of time and the multiverse. Think about it, who lives, dies, evolves or is simply a tool for other more advanced species. You give me the orb now and maybe I'll consider doing you a favor."

Rose stood there in the cold pool of the fountain, the water soaking through her trainers and jeans, barely feeling the chill of the water as she listened to the alien before her. Why oh why did she get stuck in the middle of these things, and her without the Doctor to help her. Oh this was definitely wreaking of her very prophetic dream. The Doctor just had to wake her up before she got further along in the dream which maybe could have helped her a little now. She was so gonna slap him later on after he was recovered. She looked down at the blanket enshrouded orb and thought about the Fluffy Fezzby and their little chat. She thought about the Doctor, the old girl beneath the manor, her Mum, Pete, Tony and all her friends at Torchwood and knew what she had to do.

"No." That was all Rose said to him while standing with her head held high staring at him defiantly.

He laughed at her. The dark and menacing alien stood their and laughed at her. After he stopped, he put his hands in pockets looked up to the sky and then back down at her.

"Well, you've made your choice then haven't you. It's a pity really, we could have been allies. Don't think you've won. I'm not the only one after the orb. If I were you, I'd prepare to be a bit busy. All eyes will be focused on this planet and looking for the orb. You'll never be able to hide it. Me and others like me will continue to hunt you and the orb until its full power can be released. You and your Doctor will never be safe until you hand over the orb. We'll meet again Rose Tyler and next time, won't be as pleasant."

He turned and walked away fading out of sight as he left her. Rose stood there stunned and afraid. She looked down at the orb and feared she had made the wrong decision. She may have just endangered everyone she loved. She heard Agent Dennis call her name walked over to him.

"Let's get back to Torchwood, he's gone." Rose said quietly.

She gave Agent Dennis her keys and asked him to drive her car back to Torchwood while she rode back with Jake. During the ride, all she could think about was how badly she needed to discuss this with the Doctor.

At Torchwood she went directly to the medical ward and as she opened the doors, she could already hear the Doctor lecturing the medical staff. Her mother ran up to her and threw her arms around Rose.

"What is wrong with you! Why didn't you come to the hospital with the Doctor and look at you all soaked and shivering. Honestly Rose it's like you've got no sense!" Jackie yelled at her.

"I'm all right Mum. Just had to see that everyone was safe back there. It's what the Doctor wanted."

Finally she was in the Doctor's room. He was sitting up on the bed examining his own medical chart complaining about primitive human medicine. When she entered the room, he stopped and uttered her name softly. Rose practically ran over and wrapped her arms around him, the orb between them still in the blanket.

"Oh Rose, I am so sorry." the Doctor whispered to her.

"We have to talk and soon. Something's happened and Doctor I'm so scared." She whispered back starting to cry.

"Rose, what do you think your doing, you need to get out of those wet clothes and just look at you, you 're in such a state!" Jackie chastised, clearly in mother mode. "Here are some dry things, go get changed."

Rose carefully slipped the orb under the covers of the Doctor's bed, took the clean clothes and went to get dried and changed. The Doctor watched with worry as Rose left. He turned to Jackie and the Torchwood medical staff.

"Well then I think we have determined that I am as healthy as a Hintz, a friendly furry one mind you, so I'll just be grabbing my coat, collect Rose and be out of your way." He hopped off the bed carefully tucking the orb under his coat.

"You collapsed and you and Rose were missin for a week! You're not goin anywhere," Jackie stated with a no nonsense tone to her voice.

"Jackie, it may have been a week for you but we were in a sort of time bubble so for us it was just a few hours. You see, not long at all, just a little damp and boring unless you count the impossible time bubble part of it," he said charmingly as he tied his trainers.

"Pete, you gonna let them just leave?"

"Doctor, you collapsed in pain in front of me. You should at least stay here for 24 hours observation," Pete recited knowing this was what Jackie needed to hear.

"What that? Oh that was just a little backlash after the time bubble release. It was nothing. The time bubble popped," the Doctor said popping his p's, "the device was disarmed and eventually disintegrated. Everything fine and fit." The Doctor said telling a little white lie about the orb. From the look on Rose's face and everything that had happened, he was not going to let Torchwood get their hands on this orb.

Rose came back into the room and the Doctor walked over and took her hand.

"Let's go home." The Doctor said softly to her.

"Yeah, I'd like that," Rose replied.

Jackie sighed. "Fine, off with you then but your coming for tea tomorrow. See if you can stay out of trouble for a day. I mean it Doctor, Rose, enough."

The Doctor nodded at Pete and Jackie and he and Rose left Torchwood. The Doctor drove them home as Rose was exhausted. Rose hadn't said more than two words to him during the drive when suddenly she turned to him.

"You were right. Something's coming."

a/n: Well that was nice and ominous. Next up, back to Dutton Manor.


	9. Don't Mess With The Eternals

a/n: Well this is it for this fic. This is the last chapter of this story but there will be more to come in the sequel. This has been such a wonderful learning experience and I have really enjoyed writing this story. I really am looking forward to writing the sequel. Thank you all for reviewing!

Disclaimer: Do not own or profit from Doctor Who or any of the whoverse.

**Don't Mess With the Eternals**

Rose lay asleep on the old worn leather couch in the study at Dutton Manor, the Doctor having carried her in from the car after they arrived last night. He was feeling grateful at least some of the furniture came with the house when they bought it, otherwise they would have had to curl up on the floor. He sat in a weathered brown leather chair by the fireplace just watching her having napped for a short time after tucking her in for the night. The orb sat in a crystal bowl on a table next to him. Rose had yet to tell him what happened while he was unconscious but he had suspicions of otherworldly interference and the feelings he was sensing from the old girl below were only confirming his worry. Something was terribly wrong and Rose was in the middle of it. He was tempted to wake her up and demand she tell him but he knew, although she was one of the strongest people he had ever met, she was exhausted and had reached a bit of a breaking point.

While Rose slept, the Doctor went exploring in the kitchen to see if he could find the makings for tea. Luckily, he found a tea kettle and some cups and found some tea bags and sugar packets in his pocket. He anxiously brewed tea while he waited for Rose to awaken. He wished he could abolish this feeling of unease. Just sitting there waiting for Rose with that feeling that something was coming, was driving him a bit mad. Finally he jumped up and decided to explore the house and examine it for anything left behind by the prior owners as well as working at securing the house from unwanted guests.

Hours later, "Doctor!" Rose called out.

The Doctor raced into the study. Rose was sitting up, her hair in disarray looking a little disoriented.

"Good morning, would you like some tea," the Doctor asked softly.

Rose blinked sleepily and nodded her head. The memories of the events from the day before weighed heavily on her mind. The doctor handed her a cup of tea. She took a sip and looked up at him. He waited patiently for her to say something. Finally she spoke.

"Doctor, we have to talk about yesterday."

"Oh Rose I am so so sorry. I should have known what was coming," the Doctor said dejectedly. "There was no way that orb could be there by accident. It had to have been placed there by someone with advanced knowledge and technology. The moment, it was triggered by Malcolm, it would have become a beacon to anyone on the lookout for temporal anomalies. It's just, I had hoped I'd have time to stabilize and move it. I should never have allowed Torchwood to distract me, I should have…." Rose stopped him before he could finish.

"No Doctor, none of this was your fault. You need to let me tell you about who attacked you yesterday."

"I know what it was. I may not be full Time Lord but I'm still sensitive to the flow of time. Someone used my sensitivity against me, it was a sort of a burst of time directed at me specifically. There aren't many creatures in the universe capable of that and those that are, well, they should have been destroyed in the Time War."

"Doctor he looked human but I could tell he wasn't. It was like he looked right through me and he was carrying this," Rose reached into her pocket and pulled out the metal disc and handed it to the Doctor. The Doctor gasped as he held it in his hand.

"Do you know what this is?" he asked Rose.

"No, only that he was holding it in his hand and seemed pretty intently focused on you. When I questioned him, he got all threatening and that's when you screamed out. He did something while holding it didn't he?"

"Oh I doubt he needed this for that. This was only a bit of a calling card. Haven't seen one of these in a very very long time. What else did he say to you?"

"He kept demandin the orb and saying he was teachin you a lesson for interfering where you shouldn't. He said he knew me and he knew about the dimension rip. Doctor, he called me a creature of time and he knew all about you. He kept going on about ancient old ones and eternals and how people would come lookin for the orb. He said that someone stole it from him and he wanted it back."

The Doctor felt a cold chill run through him. This shouldn't be possible. The ripple from the Time War should have destroyed the eternals, but then again, they're eternal so he guessed that meant they could survive anything, even a critical mass overload in time.

"Anything else, what did you do when the eternal attacked me?"

Rose looked down a bit before continuing. "Uh, I sort of hit him and tackled him to the ground."

"You What! I'm sorry it sounded like you said you attacked him?"

"Um Yeah," said Rose a bit sheepishly taking another sip of tea.

The Doctor sat back and just stared at her. "Do you have any idea what he could have done to you, to the whole planet! Rose, never ever attack an eternal, they have enormous power at their disposal, so much so they could practically unmake the entire planet." The Doctor sat back just stunned at what Rose had done, but a small part of him was actually a little proud. His Rose would go down fighting.

"Okaaay, so we have one ticked off eternal after us, a powerful orb that everyone wants and somehow ended up in a fountain outside of London and oh yes, it has a tendency to leak time."

"Doctor, he also said that the ancient first ones had been watchin me crossin the void, that some battle between chaos and order is going on and that we're sort of in the middle of it and needed to choose a side. I may have, sort of, chosen by accident."

"What do you mean by accident!"

"Well, by not givin im the orb, he said I had chosen. He told me it was a pity cause he would've given me a favor if I'd helped him. He said all eyes were on us now and next time we met, it wouldn't be friendly."

The doctor squeezed his eyes shut, ran his hands through his hair practically pulling his hair out. When he finally opened his eyes, he set his hands on the arms of the chair and looked at Rose.

"Rose Tyler, you certainly know how to annoy the wrong people don't you. That being said, you did the right thing. This creature could have done incredible harm with the orb. There's no telling what his plans are," the Doctor gently patted the orb.

Rose nearly came undone when she saw the Doctor touch it. "What are you doing! I thought that thing was dangerous when you touched it!" Rose yelled.

"Not for me. Time Lord me, well part Time Lord. Still, I know what I'm doing. Malcolm was under the influence of psychic energy leaking through time when he touched the orb, and well, he didn't have the right temporal senses to control it. I on the other hand, am quite temporally endowed."

The Doctor sniffed and adjusted his tie and looked a bit smug after this pronouncement. Rose just giggled a bit "You certainly are!" smiling at him with that coquettish little smile with just a bit of pink tongue peaking between her teeth.

Now that she and the Doctor were working out what to do, Rose started feeling better. There was one more thing she needed to talk to the Doctor about. "Doctor, there is one more thing."

"There's more?" The Doctor asked a bit worried, his brow furrowing.

"Well, ya see I had this dream the other night and well, I think it was sort of about what's happening."

"What do you mean sort of? What did you dream?"

"Well I was in Dutton Manor and it was all quite lovely but then I was in a garden maze with this rude little Fluffy Fezzby fellow and .." before she could finish the Doctor jumped up and started pacing.

"You met the Prime Fluffy Fezzby and didn't tell me!" he exclaimed. "Well what did he say? He doesn't just appear unless its important. You didn't taunt him did you?"

"Doctor, will you let me finish! No I didn't exactly taunt him but he was a bit rude at first. Anyway, he talked to me about choices and choosing and made me think about choices I made in the past, specifically choices that related to you. Everything was fine and I chose a path and was getting down the path when all of sudden you woke me up, so I never found out anything else, thanks for that by the way." Rose looked at him a bit miffed.

"What, how is this my fault and what do you mean choices relating to me?"

"It's nothing, just a lesson that's all and its how I knew what to tell the scary eternal yesterday."

"I see," said the Doctor even though he really didn't.

"Doctor are you doing okay? You look a bit peaked. You did get attacked yesterday. Maybe you should rest a bit?" Rose was a bit worried. He had deep shadows under his eyes and she could see the worry in his face. His suit was rumpled and even his hair looked dull and tired.

"Rose, it was just a bit of an overload, I'm fine. We really need to think about this whole orb thing. While you were napping, I did a quick once over of the Manor. So far it looks free of any monitoring devices, but I still want to install some jamming equipment as well as a perception filter. The old girl below, the TCB, will be key in getting a perception filter working and large enough to cover the entire Manor. It's definitely a priority."

"Well, if your sure. You need to promise me you'll get some rest tonight then. It's no good if you collapse from exhaustion. So what is a perception filter again?"

The Doctor deftly ignored her worry about his physical state and instead went into lecture mode.

"A perception filter is a telepathic field which will be generated by the TCB, which misdirects the senses so that when someone looks at the Manor, they won't find anything unusual or noteworthy about it. For example, there was a perception filter around the orb, powered by the orb which is why no one could see it on the fountain. Well, anyone except me, but that would be Time Lord senses."

"So, it'll work on humans but not eternals?" Rose asked.

"Oh Rose, nothing we have here is going to keep an eternal out. The best we can hope for is to hide the orb in as many layers of perception filters, wavelength diverters, jamming equipment and anything else I can find or throw together. None of that is a perfect fix but it may give us time to think of what to do."

Rose was quiet and stared at the floor. The Doctor went over and kneeled in front of her.

"Hey, its going to be all right. We've been through worse," the Doctor spoke to her softly.

"It's just we don't ever seem to get a break. Here we are in this lovely home with the TCB and all this chance for a brilliant future but now, we just have this eternal thing hangin over us like the grim reaper."

"You are Rose Tyler and I am the Doctor, the stuff of legends, if it was easy, we'd be bored," the Doctor teased her.

Rose smiled and bumped her head against his.

"Right, well first things first, breakfast!" the Doctor exclaimed jumping up with great enthusiasm. "Unfortunately, we have no provisions in this house but luckily I am always prepared." The Doctor reached into one of his coat pockets and pulled out two bananas and a two packets of biscuits. "Molto Bene! Breakfast."

Rose laughed and thanked the Doctor, both of them devouring the bananas and biscuits. Neither of them had eaten since breakfast the prior day, well week actually, since they were stuck in a time anomaly in the fountain, so they were both hungry.

"Welll that will have to do for now. Let's get to work on the Manor and do something with this pesky orb."

Rose and the Doctor spent hours setting up jamming devices, deadlock sealing windows and doors, and starting on the perception filter. The Doctor had revived the MST so that they could transport back and forth between the TCB beneath the house and the main floor of the house. They worked together seamlessly just as they had aboard the Tardis, each anticipating the needs of the other, almost as if telepathically linked. By mid afternoon, they were both famished and tired. Rose had just received a reminder text from Jackie about tea that night so they tried to wind down their work so they could get ready to head over to the Tyler mansion.

Rose lingered in a nice hot shower but as she lingered she started to fret about everything. After she showered and changed clothes, which the Doctor had brought up from the car, she went downstairs and found the Doctor standing in the solarium staring out at the garden.

"Hey," Rose said softly as she came up and curled under his arm. He wrapped his arm tightly around her.

"You've been worrying," he said to her.

"Perhaps a bit," she acknowledged.

"All we can do is the best we can. We can't live our lives in constant fear and worry. Remember when we first found the old girl and I told you she was a bit worried?"

"Yeah but we took care of Abby."

"It wasn't about Abby. She could sense the orb and what the orb's presence meant. This thing we're in the middle of, this struggle of chaos versus order, it's been going on since the beginning of time and will continue until the end of all things whether or not we interfere or take sides. The truth is, we can't not be involved, it's a given that we are and will be. There was a time oh so long ago, when I was put in the position of choosing one over another. I was contacted by one of the Guardians of our old universe. He was the White Guardian who represented order and he put me in charge of assembling the key to time, a powerful device meant to restore balance in that Universe. His opposite, the Black Guardian who represented chaos tried to stop me and steal the Key to Time. It didn't end well and eventually I was forced to destroy it utterly. Eternals are like no other beings in the universe and none of them are to be trusted completely."

"So White and Black, is that like good versus evil?" Rose asked.

"Rose, you will find that what is good or evil is subjective and a matter of opinion. What's good to me, may not be to someone else. This really isn't about good or evil but chaos versus order, just like the eternal told you. It's important that we don't confuse those concepts. You see, there are some who think that the universe evolves through chaos and stagnates with order. Others feel that the universe can only evolve through order. Truth is, I believe that there needs to be both. I may not like always like the form that chaos chooses, like war or violence but sometimes from destruction, something beautiful is born."

"How will we know what to do, what's right?"

"Can't say, we're going to have to feel this one out, see what happens. You know make it up as we go, same as usual," the Doctor smiled at her.

Rose smiled back at him. "So we're doin this together right?"

"Together, always," he said smiling at her.

To be continued in The Eternal Adventure

a/n: Thank you all so much for reading! I really really appreciate your reviews. Do stay tuned for the sequel.


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